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THE MACON GUIDE 












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13 




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THE MACON GUIDE 

and 

OCMULGEE NATIONAL 
MONUMENT 


Compiled by 

Workers of The Writers' Program of The Work Projects 
Administration in The State of Georgia 


Sponsored by 

Macon Junior Chamber of Commerce 


19 3 9 

MACON, GEORGIA 
T H E T~. W~~ BURKE COMPANY 




0' Mob 1 0 









. N\^ VJ75 

a. 



FEDERAL WORKS ADMINISTRATION 
John Carmody, Administrator 


WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION 
F. C. Harrington, Commissioner 
Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner 
Gay B. Shepperson, State Administrator 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

MAY 14 1940 

DIVISION OF DOCUMENTS 


1 



PREFACE 


The Macon Guide has been prepared by the Macon and 
Atlanta offices of the Federal Writers’ Project, which is 
operated under the Work Projects Administration for the 
purpose of providing useful employment for unemployed 
writers. This project, which has been set up in all the United 
States since November, 1935, has compiled numerous guide¬ 
books and special studies for many sections of the country. 
Although the various units operate under Federal funds, 
the sponsorship of a local civic body is necessary for publica¬ 
tion. The Macon Guide is sponsored by the Macon Junior 
Chamber of Commerce, which has also given valuable as¬ 
sistance as consultant to the Writers’ Project. We extend 
our sincere thanks to this body and to other organizations 
and individuals who have given their services. These are too 
numerous to be listed in full, but a list of our principal con¬ 
sultants for this volume is given after the bibliography. 

Samuel Tupper, Jr., 

State Supervisor 










































































• RI 












































CONTENTS 


Page 

General Information.13 

Contemporary Scene.15 

Agriculture.19 

Industry and Commerce.23 

Education ..29 

Writers.36 

Newspapers and Journalists.44 

History.49 

Chronology.61 

Ocmulgee National Monument.64 

Tour i. 78 

Tour 2.91 

Tour 3.104 

Other Points of Interest .no 

Bibliography.119 

Index.121 


(7) 





























. . t 

































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 

Cherry Street . 16 

Peach Harvesting.20 

Peach Packing Shed.20 

Interior Textile Mill.24 

Campus Wesleyan College.30 

Nursery School.31 

Administration Building, Mercer University . 33 

Sidney Lanier Home.37 

Fort Hawkins.50 

Marshall Johnston House.51 

Ocmulgee National Monument Map ... 65 

Council Chamber, Ocmulgee National Park . 66 

Entrance Council Chamber, 

Ocmulgee National Park.67 

Municipal Auditorium.80 

Wesleyan Conservatory.82 

St. Joseph's Cathedral.88 

City Hall.89 

Mulberry Street Methodist Church ... 94 

P. L. Hay House.95 

Cowles-Bond-O’Neal House.97 

Cowles-Walker House.105 

Baconsfield Park.109 

Baconsfield Park Playground.109 

Herbert Smart Airport.111 

Georgia Academy For The Blind.113 

Lowther Hall.117 

Tour Map .Facing Page 78 


( 9 ) 






















THE MACON GUIDE 




GENERAL INFORMATION 


TRANSPORTATION: 

Railroad Station: Terminal Station, Fifth and Cherry 
Streets, for Georgia R.R., Central of Georgia Ry., South¬ 
ern Ry., Georgia-Southern R.R., and Macon, Dublin & 
Savannah R.R. 

Bus Station: Greyhound Terminal, 320 Broadway, for 
Southeastern Greyhound Lines, Southern Stages, Inc., 
Bass Bus Lines, Georgia Central Coaches, and Union Bus 
Lines. 

Airport : Herbert Smart Municipal Airport, 6.5 m. E. of 
city on State 87, for Eastern Air Line service between Mi¬ 
ami and Chicago; connections with planes from Canada 
and South America. Taxi fare to airport, $1.00 by one line, 
75c a passenger by the other. Charter service and flying 
lessons. 

Taxis: Yellow Cab Co., 10c first mile and a half, 10c each 
additional half mile. Safety Cab Co., 10c a passenger from 
business district to any point within city limits and vice 
versa; 20c a passenger across town; 15c a mile outside 
city limits. 

Local Busses: Single fare 5c, transfers lc additional. 

TRAFFIC REGULATIONS: 

Right and left turns permitted at all intersections; right 
turns may be made on red lights; no U turns on Cherry 
Street at traffic lights. Stop and slow signs, one-way 
streets, and parking'limitations plainly marked. 

ACCOMMODATIONS: 

Thirteen hotels including two for Negroes; numerous 
boarding houses, tourist homes, and camps; no seasonal 
rates, moderate prices. 


(13) 


14 


THE MACON GUIDE 


SHOPPING: 

Cherry Street is the center of Macon’s shopping district. 
Out-of-town newspapers for sale at newsstands. 

INFORMATION SERVICE: 

Chamber of Commerce, Municipal Auditorium, First and 
Cherry Streets. All hotels and newspapers. 

RECREATION: 

Golf: Cherokee Golf Club (municipal), 6 m. W. on US 80, 
9 holes, sand greens, greens fee 50c. Idle Hour Country 
Club, 5.5. m. N. on US 341, 18 holes, $1; visitors may pur¬ 
chase tickets at club house. 

Tennis: Baconsfield Park, North Ave. and Nottingham 
Drive. 

Swimming: Recreation Park, 2 m. E. on US 80; Lakeside 
Park, 4 m. E. on US 80; Y. W. C. A., open to women in 
daytime, to general public at night; Y. M. C. A. for men 
and boys. 

Riding: Rivoli Riding Club, 7 m. N. on US 341, $1 an hour. 

Stadium: Municipal Stadium, Morgan Ave. 

Supervised Playgrounds: Tattnall Square Park, Washing¬ 
ton Park, and 9 others for white children; 5 for Negroes; 
open in winter 3—6, in summer 4 until dark. 

Theaters: Seven motion picture theaters in downtown 
area, including two for Negroes. Municipal Auditorium, 
Cherry and First Streets, for occasional concerts. Macon 
Little Theater, Ocmulgee Street for local productions. 

RADIO STATION: 

WMAZ (1180 kc.), affiliated with Columbia Broadcasting 
System. 

ANNUAL EVENTS: 

Spring, Bibb Flower Show, Bibb County Camellia Show ; 
October, Georgia State Exposition. 


CONTEMPORARY SCENE 


AAaCON (334 alt., 53,829 

pop., 44 per cent Negro) is known not only as Georgia’s 
central city, but as a farmers’ market, a college town, and 
the site of thriving factories. The industrial plants are lo¬ 
cated principally within the mill area east of Fifth Street 
and south of the Ocmulgee River. Along this muddy stream 
and along the railroad tracks brick kilns, furniture factories, 
ironworks, and textile mills thrust their chimneys into the 
sky. Macon is best remembered, however, for its houses, its 
gardens, and its broad, park-centered streets with their im¬ 
pressive lines of trees. 

The sweep of the pine-covered hills has been broken by 
small grassplots and flower gardens. Despite the classic dig¬ 
nity of a few public buildings and many residences, stately 
with columns and porticoes, Macon’s beauty is comfortable 
rather than commanding. While the city has its panoramic 
vistas, such as the superb one from Coleman Hill, it has 
many more views of simple comeliness and charm. 

Although the skyline is low, the principal downtown 
streets, especially Cherry, have a rather modern appearance 
with their neon signs, vitrolite facades, and pavements strip¬ 
ped of trees. But the cross streets are shaded by an over¬ 
arching canopy of oaks, elms, magnolias, hickories, and 
beeches, and there are grassy center parks planted in pal¬ 
mettos, pink-blossomed crape myrtles, and fragrant roses. 
While downtown Macon is compact and geometrically 
planned, the residential areas are designed with an agreeable 
irregularity. In Vineville, the oldest of these districts, are 
several of Macon’s handsome churches and its older houses 


15 


16 


THE MACON GUIDE 


with columns, iron banisters, and picket fences about their 
boxwood-bordered gardens. Modern landscaping, however, 
has been used extensively, and lawns are kept trimly shaven. 
Although Vineville has its modern residences, there are 
more of these in the newer suburbs of Stanislaus, Ingleside, 
and Shirley Hills. 

A gay and informal social life prevails, little concerned 
with large public gatherings but lived from home to home. 
The social texture is deeply marked by the churches, pre¬ 
dominantly Protestant, of which n denominations are or¬ 
ganized into 89 congregations. The two most numerous de¬ 
nominations are represented in the colleges, which also con¬ 
stitute a powerful influence. Wesleyan, a woman’s college en¬ 
dowed by the Methodist Church, has become a tradition 
through more than a century, constantly raising its scholastic 
standing. Mercer, a Baptist university, has students and fac¬ 
ulty members who have become an important part of Macon 
life. The Macon Telegraph and Evening News also wield 



CHERRY STREET 






OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


17 


power, not only through their policies but through the com¬ 
munity standing of their personnel. Still another factor of 
importance are the travelers who constantly come and go. 
Though not a center for regular tourists, the city is popular 
for conventions because of its central location and excellent 
transportation facilities. 

Macon is actively interested in the arts. Wesleyan Col¬ 
lege maintains a permanent collection of contemporary paint¬ 
ings as well as copies of old masters. A collection of por¬ 
traits, landscapes, and seascapes, presented to the city by the 
Macon Art Association, is exhibited at the city hall. This 
association brings from four to six annual exhibits each year 
and sponsors lectures by contemporary artists. Macon has a 
number of capable musicians, but its most conspicuous musi¬ 
cal accomplishment is its work in promoting Christmas carol 
singing. Considerable interest is focused upon the preserva¬ 
tion of spirituals, which are presented to the general public 
by several Negro church choirs. None of the arts, however, 
has created a more alert and widespread interest than 
drama, for there is a very active theater group that owns its 
playhouse and presents several performances yearly. 

Macon’s large Negro population, though socially sepa¬ 
rate, lives in close physical proximity to the white citizenry. 
The more prosperous element lives in Unionville and Pleas¬ 
ant Hill, suburbs that show many well-kept homes. The 
poorer settlements are scattered in back alleys throughout 
the city, and sometimes rickety shacks stand even at the 
base of public buildings. In the Negro business streets, lead¬ 
ing abruptly from white districts, the buildings are older 
but substantial enough, and there are hotels, offices, shops, 
motion picture houses, and a hospital. Gay, full-throated 
laughter is heard wherever sidewalk groups gather. 

Negroes in Macon range from illiterate laborers to the 
college-bred professional class, which has produced such 
well-known educators as Professor W. S. Scarborough ( see 
WRITERS ). The cause of Negro education, which had no 
effective adherents in Macon until after the War Between 
the States, is now fostered by a progressive public school 


18 


THE MACON GUIDE 


system and by Beda Etta College, Ballard Normal School, 
and Georgia Baptist College. Among the better-trained 
members of the race is a substantial business and profes¬ 
sional group; the illiterate or barely literate usually find em¬ 
ployment in domestic service or the lower industrial or com¬ 
mercial positions. Preachers come from both classes, for 
some Negro congregations are conservative in religious ex¬ 
pression while others display their emotion with shouting 
and vehement gesticulation. Their burial societies bear such 
names as Daughters of Jerusalem and Blooming Light of 
Love. 

Despite all its industrial enterprises, its educational facili¬ 
ties, and its artistic activities, Macon retains many aspects 
of the farmers’ market town that it was before the War 
Between the States. This is particularly noticeable on Satur¬ 
days, when farm wagons and mud-caked Fords creak and 
sputter down the main thoroughfares. Macon markets are 
excellent, providing the best fruits and vegetables from the 
fertile agricultural region of which it is the center. The cot¬ 
ton, peach and pecan crops are always topics of interest, for 
many citizens own farms in the vicinity of the city. 

Ante-bellum times have not been forgotten here, but the 
plantation heritage has not hampered more modern develop¬ 
ments. Macon cannot be defined as belonging either to the 
Old or the New South but as a city blending elements of 
both in its entity. 


AGRICULTURE 


M ACON lies in the center of 
a rich farming area, the fall line region that separates the 
Piedmont Plateau from the Coastal Plain. For 60 miles in 
all directions there are contrasting soils and a corresponding 
variety of products. The entire area, ranging in altitude 
from 512 feet in the upper Piedmont section to 334 feet in 
the Coastal Plain, drains into the Ocmulgee River. The 
mean annual temperature is 64.2 degrees and the annual 
average rainfall is 46 inches. With this mild climate and 
abundant rainfall the region has agricultural advantages 
that have been more important than any other factors in de¬ 
veloping the economic life of Macon, the hub of this produc¬ 
tive section. 

Archeological excavations at Old Ocmulgee Fields have 
demonstrated that the Indians of this region diligently cul¬ 
tivated their cornfields. Other garden crops are mentioned 
throughout the history of this section, and from the time of 
the earliest settlement squatters and newcomers disuuted 
posssession of the fertile lands along the Ocmulgee River. 
That agriculture had spread from home consumption into 
commerce is shown by the renting of the first market house 
stalls in 1826 . 

From the beginning cotton has been the crop of pira- 
mount importance to the city; as early as 1819 three boat¬ 
loads were floated down the river. Much of the value of 
this product has been due to Macon’s location and to the en¬ 
terprise of its citizens, for Bibb, though productive, was not 
one of the largest cotton growing counties. In 1850 , during 
the most prosperous days of the plantations, the county’s 


19 


20 


THE MACON GUIDE 



PEACH PACKING SHED 





OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


21 


yield was less than 5,000 bales, while a few other counties 
produced 10,000 bales. The city, however, was a bustling, 
important shipping point for cotton for a much larger area 
than its immediate surroundings. 

The growing of this staple caused the rise of plantations 
maintained by slave labor. Many landholders lived in their 
town houses in Macon, while overseers operated their near¬ 
by plantations. In i860, the year before secession, Bibb 
County had about 10 plantations with as much as 1,000 
cleared acres each. 

The defeat of the Confederacy and the emancipation of 
slaves curtailed profitable cotton cultivation. Production 
climbed again after the Reconstruction period, and, though 
injured by the boll weevil in the 1920’s, cotton is still an im¬ 
portant source of income. The area produces approximately 
500,000 bales annually, and Macon is the fourth largest 
inland cotton market in the United States. 

Nevertheless, Bibb County farmers have developed other 
crops. Peanuts, introduced by returning Confederate sol¬ 
diers who had learned their value in eastern Virginia cam¬ 
paigns, have become increasingly important since the early 
1920’s. At that time farmers of the Macon region turned 
to peanuts as a substitute cash crop for cotton, which had 
been seriously damaged by the boll weevil. 

Pecans were grown as an experiment in 1877 by I. C. 
Plant, a Macon banker who planted 1,000 Mississippi Val¬ 
ley trees on his Ocmulgee River farm near Macon. Cultiva¬ 
tion soon spread. In 1906 a growers’ association was formed 
to sponsor scientific culture of the budded paper-shell va¬ 
rieties. An exchange for grading, storing, and marketing the 
crops was established, and middle and south Georgia now 
lead the world in cultivated pecan production. Two Macon 
agencies market almost half of Georgia’s annual million- 
dollar crop. 

As early as 1858 peaches were being shipped from Ma¬ 
con to New York, but the growing of fine quality fruit be¬ 
gan only after the revolutionary experiments of the Rumph 
family in the 1870’s. The Elberta, most widely known peach 


22 


THE MACON GUIDE 


east of the Rocky Mountains, was developed in 1875 by 
Samuel Rumph of this section. At approximately the same 
date the Georgia Belle was produced by his brother, Lewis 
A. Rumph. Shipping, which by 1889 had assumed consider¬ 
able importance, was facilitated by Samuel Rumph’s inven¬ 
tion of the mortised-end crate. Several million trees of seven 
varieties are now grown in the Macon belt, the Hiley Belles 
and Elbertas being the most important. From 10,000 to 
18,000 carloads are shipped annually by the Macon branch 
of the Georgia Fruit Growers’ Association. Some are pre¬ 
served for winter consumption by a freezing process. Im¬ 
provements in peach culture, shipping, and marketing are 
promoted by the Georga Association of Peach Growers, 
organized in Macon in 1938. 

Macon markets have benefited by the trend from exces¬ 
sive cotton planting to diversified farm economy. The Geor¬ 
gia yam has become an important commercial asset. The 
use of the middle Georgia pasture lands during the droughts 
of 1933-34 so stimulated livestock raising that the Middle 
Georgia Livestock Association was formed in Macon in 
1936. Since that time there has been an increase in hogs, 
poultry, and dairy products. Although corn is the most wide¬ 
ly cultivated food crop, tomatoes, beans, and watermelons 
also are raised in abundance. The average growing season 
of this region is 270 days, and vegetables can be obtained 
from the garden almost every month in the year. 


INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 


AlS EARLY as the sixteenth 
century the site of Macon, at the head of navigation of the 
Ocmulgee River, had become a center of industry and trade 
for successive Indian tribes, who used the clay along the 
banks of the Ocmulgee for making pottery and for building 
the houses of the plateau villages. An Indian trading path ex¬ 
tended from the Savannah River across the Ogeechee and 
Oconee Rivers, through this site, and thence across the Chat¬ 
tahoochee River into Alabama. 

With the white settlement of this section during the early 
part of the n’neteenth century, it was natural that the Oc¬ 
mulgee should become an important channel of transporta¬ 
tion for cotton from the surrounding piedmont plains down 
the river to the seaport towns of Savannah and Darien. This 
river traffic gave rise to a boat-building industry, and in 
1819, four years before the actual founding of Macon, three 
boats were built at a cost of $368. These were the first of 
the flat-bottomed boats that were loaded with cotton, floated 
downstream, and then laborously poled back with a cargo 
of manufactured products for the farmers. The first steam¬ 
boat arrived in 1829, but several years passed before regu¬ 
lar steamboat serv’ce was maintained on the Ocmulgee. Al¬ 
though river traffic waned after the completion of the Cen¬ 
tral Railroad (now part of the Central of Georgia Rail¬ 
way system) from Savannah to Macon in 1843, it continued 
spasmodically until well within the twentieth century. 

From the early years until the War Between the States 
the marketing of cotton was the pivot around which Ma¬ 
con’s commercial and industrial development moved. In 


23 


24 


THE MACON GUIDE 



INTERIOR TEXTILE MILL 

1 857, 2,500 bales were sold to a Macon dealer for $100,- 
000, the highest sale recorded in the State. This large trade 
gave further impetus to increasing transportation facilities 
and expanding industries. 

In 1825 Macon citizens, early and energetic advocates of 
railroad expansion, supported a railway survey of the 49 
miles from Macon to Milledgeville. This line was never con¬ 
structed. In 1836, however, an important planning meeting 
was held in Macon, and all interested Georgia counties sent 
delegates. These men recommended that the Monroe Rail¬ 
road be extended to a point on the Chattahoochee River to 
meet the Georgia Railroad and that the State build a line 
from that point to the Tennessee River. A committee of 30 
drew up a report, which was endorsed by the legislature and 
led to the passage of a bill permitting the State to construct 
the Western and Atlantic Railroad. In 1836 Macon sub¬ 
scribed heavily to the Central Railroad stock, and through¬ 
out the century contributions from public and private sources 




OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


25 


were generous to the point of extravagance. The Monroe 
Railroad, which began operation in 1838 over the 25 miles 
from Macon to Forsyth, was the first of the railroads that 
tapped the surrounding fertile farming area and radiated to 
inland and coastal cities. In 1845 this railroad became the 
Macon and Western, and in 1872 it was merged with the 
Central Railroad. 

One of the most prominent early leaders was General 
William Wadley, president of several railways and the 
Ocean Steamship Company. The most vigorous of the pio¬ 
neer railroad builders was Jerry Cowles, “the irrepressible 
iron man of the age”, who organized the Southwestern Rail¬ 
road on a rainy night in 1845. A meeting had been called, 
but when Cowles arrived with his secretary no one was pres¬ 
ent. To organize the railroad it was necessary that a presi¬ 
dent, a secretary, and an audience be present. Undaunted, 
the resourceful Cowles hurried to the office of the Georgia 
Messenger and returned with Simri Rose, who acted as 
audience while the business of organizing the railroad was 
transacted. When the Southwestern Railroad was opened 
to Albany in 1856, another fertile agricultural section began 
to send its cotton to Macon. This line, also, was later 
merged with the Central Railroad system. 

To equip the railroads, ironworks were built. The first 
was founded in 1854 bv Robert Findlav, engineer of the first 
Macon train, and the Schofield Iron Works was established 
soon afterward. During the prosperous period before i860 
Macon’s industries included a textile mill, a shoe factory, a 
flour mill, three machine shops, and a marble works, besides 
eight cotton warehouses, a newspaper, and many retail busi¬ 
nesses. 

During the War Between the States private enterprise 
was arrested, but Macon nevertheless bustled with activity, 
for the city became a central depository for Confederate 
money and supplies. At one time the treasury department 
had under its protection gold to the amount of $1,500,000. 
In 1862 there was still greater activity when the arsenal at 


26 


THE MACON GUIDE 


Savannah was moved to Macon and the large Findlay 
Foundry taken over with all its machinery. 

For a time after the war industry virtually ceased. The 
period from 1875 to 1900, however, was notable for the 
rapid industrial development of the vast resources in the 
vicinity of Macon. The manufacture of cotton textiles was 
the major industrial enterprise, but interest also was revived 
in the rich clay deposits, and lumber and agricultural prod¬ 
ucts simulated various industries. J. C. Butler, the first 
Georgia-Alabama manager of the Electro-Magnetic Tele¬ 
graph, which was introduced in 1848 and absorbed in West¬ 
ern Union by 1861, gives in his history of Macon (1879) 
a description of the city of this time. The business plane was 
one mile long and a half m'le wide, “surrounding which arises 
those eminences with their costly mansions and luxuriant 
flower gardens which has led visitors to call Macon the 
‘seven hilled city’. The altitude of the plane is 350 feet above 
the level of the sea and that of the eminences from 500 to 
550 feet. Being situated equi-distant from the mountains and 
the sea, the temperature is neither excessively warm in the 
summer nor disagreeably cold in the winter.” In discussing 
a canal for a power line the natural resources were noted: 
“The character and supply of timber along its [the Ocmul- 
gee’sl course is incalculable. Timber of every size, consist¬ 
ing of a variety of hardwoods for manufacturing purposes, 
such as white oak, cypress, hickory, poplar, red and white 
bay, elms and the long leaf pine, chestnut, ash, and other 
serviceable woods for furniture, carriages and wagons, and 

agricultural implements.Along its charted course was 

an abundance of good clay adapted to the manufacture of 
bric 'S, jugs, and porcelain ware, and at its head a vast quan¬ 
tity of granite for building purposes.” 

During the twentieth century Macon has seen the quicken¬ 
ing of industrial development. As the distributing center for 
the cotton, timber, clay, fruits, and vegetables of middle 
Georgia, it has attracted five railways operating nine lines, 
and numerous truck lines using paved highways. Products 
from more than 150 manufactories are distributed widely 
over the Southeast. 



OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


27 


Cotton products and by-products are still foremost; 12 
mills use more than 70,000 bales annually in the manufac¬ 
ture of goods valued at approximately 14 million dollars 
(1929). A cottonseed huller was patented by a citizen of 
the Macon agricultural area between 1830 and 1932 but 
was not commercialized until electrification stimulated in¬ 
dustry. From the raw materials used in the making of a bale 
of cotton 60 pounds of linters, 260 pounds of hulls, 143 
pounds of oil, and 408 pounds of meal are extracted. Many 
uses are found for these by-products in the manufacture 
of cottonseed oil, feed, fert’lizer, sausage casings, mat¬ 
tresses, and paints. There are four compress warehouses and 
a factory for making farm machinery. 

Second in value to cotton products are food and farm 
produce, which have g’ven rise to flour and grist mills, dai¬ 
ries, canneries, and factories processing sausages, pimientos, 
vinegar, potato chips, and cigars. The recent development 
of cattle raising has promoted the establishment of slaughter 
houses and hide, harness, and saddlery industries. 

The timber resources and naval stores, turpentine and 
resin, were first used in 1819 for the manufacture of flat- 
boats and later in the construction of the city. Three lum¬ 
ber mills now cut about 30 million feet of pine annually. The 
city has 23 lumber companies, 3 furniture factories, and a 
crate and basket factory that supplies the peach, orange, 
and vegetable growers. 

Closely allied to the lumber industry are many ironworks. 
A machine shop, established in 1896 by a man who delivered 
the fnished products in a wheelbarrow, has grown into one 
of the largest manufactories of sawmill equipment in the 
State. Besides holers this firm manufactures circular and 
crosscut saws, planer knives, sawdust convenors, wood split¬ 
ters, and similar products. Although primarily for the south¬ 
ern market, these products are shipped throughout the Unit¬ 
ed States and, through the Ford Motor Company, to several 
foreign ccuntres. 

One of the four brick and tile companies in Macon has a 
plant covering 20 acres, clay lands of 7^0 acres, and an an¬ 
nual production of approximately 125,000 tons of brick and 


28 


THE MACON GUIDE 


tile. Another, the only floor and wall tile plant south of Cin¬ 
cinnati, has a yearly production of about a million square 
feet in more than a thousand sizes, shapes, and colors. Other 
clay products manufactories include plants for making sew¬ 
er pipe, fuller’s earth products, and pottery. 

The most valuable of the clays is kaolin, a residual white 
chalk that is mined extensively at near-by Dry Branch, the 
approximate center of the belt supplying 80 per cent of the 
kaolin used in the United States. It is thought that this 
mineral was first used here in the making of paint. Two 
existing paint firms have been in operation, one since 1849 
and the other since 1867. Other local uses are in making 
dental supplies, as a filler for pine paper, oilcloth, linoleum, 
and rubber, and in the revived Indian craft of pottery mak¬ 
ing. It is exported chiefly for use as a filler for paper. 

To equip and supply the earth products market there is 
an excavating machinery plant. Allied activities are the pro¬ 
duction of hollow tile for the construction of buildings and 
the manufacture of cement from the natural limerock of ad¬ 
joining Houston and Crawford Counties. Most of middle 
Georgia’s highways are built of natural limerock, which un¬ 
der pressure cements itself together and becomes more com¬ 
pact with age. Limerock is also combined with fuller’s earth 
to make Portland cement. The granite stores noted by J. C. 
Butler have been utilized in making stone tile for the exte¬ 
rior of buildings. 

Ignored in Butler’s account, probably because of their 
abundance, were the sands of the ancient shore line that are 
now mined in thousands of tons annually. They are washed, 
screened, sized, and sent to South Carolina for the manu¬ 
facture of bottles and to Tennessee for the polishing of plate 
glass. Commoner uses are for building mortars. 

According to the 1929 census of the U. S. Department of 
Commerce, Macon was the third city and Bibb the fourth 
county in the State in the value of manufactured products. 
The value of the city’s products, from approximately 165 
manufacturing plants, was rated at $29,612,150 and that 
of the county’s at $37>735>344- 


EDUCATION 


rHE CAUSE of education 
was pushed forward heartily by Macon’s first citizens, who 
were not mere brawny frontiersmen or irresponsible adven¬ 
turers but substantial men and women with homes already 
established. When the first lots were auctioned May 7, 
1823, Georgia was within a decade of its centennial and its 
early educational experiments could be studied profitably. 
Hardly had the little log-and-plank town sprung up than 
the settlers began to formulate plans for schooling their 
children. Within a year after the establishment of Bibb 
County, its first educational provision was made; the Geor¬ 
gia legislature passed an act permitting the appointment of 
commissioners to supervise three proposed academies. These 
commissioners were installed in January 1824, and the fol¬ 
lowing November they arranged for construction of the first 
academy building on the square between Walnut and Wharf 
(Ocmulgee) Streets. Two additional academies were es¬ 
tablished in the county in 1825, and two smaller schools were 
opened in Macon the following year. 

Most of these early institutions were headed by ministers, 
and religious instruction was a salient part of the curriculum. 
The academies were not free public schools as the term is 
now understood. Although they received some financial as¬ 
sistance from the State and were nominally supervised by 
the State board (Senatus Academicus), they were actually 
subsidized private schools that charged tuition for the in¬ 
struction offered. In 1826 the quarterly fees at the local 
academy ranged from $4 for reading, writing, and arith- 


29 


30 


THE MACON GUIDE 



metic to $9 when the courses Included higher mathematics, 
chemistry, and Greek and Latin classics. 

The rambling wooden structure that housed the first acad¬ 
emy was destroyed by fire in 1829 and was replaced in 1834 
by a brick building, a dignified edifice with porticoes and 
Venetian blinds. When the school resumed operation, girls 
were admitted for the first time, but the first and second 
classes, even when the curriculum was almost identical, were 
taught separately. In the upper grades there was a greater 
variety of courses for the boys, who were offered higher 
mathematics, belles lettres, and Greek and Latin classics in 
addition to the grammar, geography, history, and natural 
philosophy studied by both sexes. The girls also studied 
music. 

The basic purpose of these academies was the prepara¬ 
tion of young men for college and of young women for a 
well-poised position in society. Although there were not many 
parents like the Georgia father who wrote complaining that 


CAMPUS WESLEYAN COLLEGE 



OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


31 



NURSERY SCHOOL 

his son had not been thrashed for three weeks, many chil¬ 
dren were sent to the academies principally for the discipline, 
which by modern standards was unreasonable and unneces¬ 
sarily severe. These schools intensified social divisions, for 
only people of some means could afford the tuition; children 
of poorer families were offered tuition money from the 
State Free School Fund, a gift that was frequently refused 
because of the stigma of charity. Numerous private schools 
continued to open their doors. 

Macon citizens were liberal minded in a period that was 
generally backward in regard to the education of women, 
for in 1834 they were laying plans for the establishment of 
a woman’s college in the city. At the same time the Georgia 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church was plan¬ 
ning to set up a similar institution. Negotiations between 
these two groups resulted in a decision to combine their ef¬ 
forts to open an institution to be operated by the conference. 
A charter was granted by the legislature, and in 1836 the 










32 


THE MACON GUIDE 


Georgia Female College was authorized as the first college 
in the world chartered to grant degrees exclusively to wo¬ 
men. Because of the national financial panic of 1837, the col¬ 
lege did not open until 1839, when 90 young ladies enrolled. 
In 1843 Georgia Conference obtained full possession of 
the school and changed its name to Wesleyan Female Col¬ 
lege. 

The citizens also were progressive in new philanthropic 
enterprises. In 1851 a school was organized here for the in¬ 
struction of the blind in Georgia, and in the following year 
the legislature chartered this institution as the Georgia 
Academy for the Blind. 

During the War Between the States, Macon schools suf¬ 
fered greatly. As the war drew to a close the throngs of 
refugees and wounded in the city necessitated the comman¬ 
deering of school buildings for their accommodation. Classes 
were held sporadically in private houses, but by 1864 the 
educational system was almost completely demoralized. Nev¬ 
ertheless, the 1870’s was a period of vigorous progress in 
the cultural life of the city. Mercer University, which had 
been founded as Mercer Institute at Penfield in 1833, was 
moved to Macon in 1871 and established on the Tattnall 
Square grounds donated by the city. Pio Nono College was 
founded by the Roman Catholic Church in 1874 and opened 
in 1876. Mount de Sales Academy, the outgrowth of a small 
school opened by five Sisters of Mercy in 1871, also received 
its charter in 1876. 

There were no free secondary schools in Macon until 

1872, the year in which the Georgia public school system 
was set up. In that year the newly created Board of Educa¬ 
tion and Orphanage of Bibb County assumed control of all 
public schools of Macon and the county. Central High 
School, later called Gresham High School, was opened in 

1873, replacing the ante-bellum academy as the city’s prin¬ 
cipal secondary school. Thus education at last began to func¬ 
tion on a democratic basis. 

In the last two decades of the century greater educational 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


33 



ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, MERCER UNIVERSITY 


opportunities were offered. In 1887 Pio Nono College was 
taken over by the Society of Jesus as a training school for 
Jesuit priests and its name changed to St. Stanislaus Col¬ 
lege, a school that functioned until 1921, when it was de¬ 
stroyed by fire. The Georgia-Alabama Business College, 
now known as the G. A. B. School of Commerce, was opened 
in 1889. In 1892 the Board of Education assumed super¬ 
vision over the Alexander Free School, opened shortly after 
the close of the War Between the States through funds be¬ 
queathed by Elam Alexander. Progress continued into the 
new century. Separate high schools for girls and boys were 
instituted in 1909, and the Macon Vocational School opened 
in 1930. 






34 


THE MACON GUIDE 


Organized Negro education in Macon dates from 1865, 
when the 13th Amendment was enacted. Before the War 
Between the States Georgia laws had forbidden that slaves 
be taught to write, on the ground that they might correspond 
among themselves and organize rebellion. Although many 
slaveholders ignored these laws and taught the Negroes 
their letters, learning among them was very elementary. 
Soon after peace was declared, however, the Freedmen’s 
Bureau began to do active work in the education of the 
emancipated Negroes. Remarkable among Macon’s early 
Negro educators was Edward Woodliff, a free Negro who 
came to Macon in 1832, opened a successful barber shop, 
accumulated considerable property and money, married a 
slave whose freedom he purchased for $800, and moved to 
Philadelphia in order to educate his daughter, Ariadine. 
At the close of the War Between the States he returned to 
Macon and in 1865 opened the first school for Negro chil¬ 
dren. Ariadine Woodliff, who was the first teacher in the 
school, later married another teacher, Thomas Sellers, and 
their son, Cassander, was the first Negro to be admitted to 
the Georgia bar. 

In 1865 the American Missionary Association sent to Ma¬ 
con 12 teachers who established the Lewis High School, 
named for General John Lewis, an active member of the 
Freedmen’s Bureau. In 1876 this institution was expanded 
into a teachers’ training school for Negroes and its name was 
changed to Ballard Normal School in honor of Stephen 
Ballard, who donated funds for a new building. This school 
now offers high school courses accredited by the State Board 
of Education. Upon the inauguration of the public school 
system in 1872 two schools for Negroes were opened. A 
third was opened the following year, and in 1882 the Col¬ 
ored Academy for the Blind was chartered by the State. The 
Georgia Baptist College, formerly Central City College, 
was founded the same year under the sponsorship of the 
Baptist Church. This institution offers to Negroes junior col¬ 
lege courses in theology and the liberal arts. 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


35 


Two additional colleges for Negroes have been opened in 
recent years. Beda Etta College, a junior college and com¬ 
mercial high school, was founded by Minnie L. Smith in 
1920, and the Memorial Trade School, a vocational night 
school, was established in 1930 by the Reverend J. T. Saxon 
as a memorial to his son. 

Macon children now may proceed from the lowest grades 
through college, the Negro students to receive a junior col¬ 
lege diploma, the white students the degree of bachelor or 
master of arts. The 31 public schools are divided as follows: 
for white pupils, 3 high schools, 15 grammar schools, and 1 
open-air school for tubercular children; for Negroes, 1 high 
school, 10 grammar schools, and 1 open-air school for tu¬ 
bercular children. The schools of both county and city are 
under the jurisdiction of the self-perpetuating Board of Edu¬ 
cation and Orphanage of Bibb County, established in 1872. 
In addition to the public schools there are two white paro¬ 
chial schools maintained by the Catholic Church. 


WRITERS 


RITERS have had a part 
in directing the course of Macon’s development from its be¬ 
ginning, when Oliver Hillhouse Prince was chosen one of 
the five commissioners to design the city. Prince, who first be¬ 
came prominent as a lawyer, later served as an editor of the 
Georgia Journal and wrote many Georgia sketches. His 
stories were praised by Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, who 
incorporated The Militia Drill in his Georgia Scenes. 

Although Macon’s early citizens had to place their liveli¬ 
hood before creative writing, they sincerely respected litera¬ 
ture and welcomed visiting authors. Captain Basil Hall, the 
English explorer, came to Macon in 1828 and described it 
in his Travels of North America as an “embryo city of the 
wilderness.” Even the notorious journalist Ann Royal, “the 
grandmother of the muckrakers,” was so enthusiastically 
feted in 1830 that she called Macon “the pink of the South 
and the rosebud of all little cities.” 

In the strenuous early days it was natural that the cultural 
impulse should center itself about the leaders of the churches 
and schools. Adiel Sherwood revised the first edition of his 
Gazetteer of the State of Georgia while serving as pastor of 
the First Baptist Church from 1828 to 1830. He was the 
author of numerous articles on religion, education, and 
church history. George Foster Pierce, known for his pro¬ 
found sermons and addresses, was the first president of Wes¬ 
leyan. In 1840 he quickened public interest in female educa¬ 
tion by writing articles for the Southern Lady } s Book, which 
he edited in that year. 

The first fiction produced in Macon was The Leper of 


36 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


37 


Aoste, a romantic novel published serially in the Athens 
Southern Literary Gazette in 1848. It seems that the au¬ 
thor, Mrs. Mary Baber, had no emulators, but it was not long 
before Oliver Hillhouse Prince, Jr., published a humorous 
series called Billy JVoodpile’s Letters. Although writing was 
not considered a serious vocation, the composition of verse 
soon came to be regarded as a gracious and elegant pastime. 
A conspicuous local figure of the 1840’s was James Carson 
Edwards, who contributed to magazines and wrote verses 
of lofty sentiment. Even the busy and prominent Judge Eu- 
genius Aristides Nisbet, professor of literature, Congress¬ 
man, and author of the Georgia Ordinance of Secession, 
found time to write Eugenio and other poems showing classi¬ 
cal influence. 

After the War Between the States talent timidly reassert¬ 
ed itself in the military accounts of Confederate veterans. 
Numerous verses and ballads were created by the hectic 
patriotism of wartime, but creative efforts were blighted by 



SIDNEY LANIER HOME 




38 


THE MACON GUIDE 


the more bitter adversities of reconstruction. Henry Lynden 
Flash, editor of the Telegraph, wrote many sensitive, adroit 
lyrics and might have become an admirable poet but for his 
conviction that “the South prefers potatoes to poetry.” Dur¬ 
ing this period teachers again became an impelling force for 
literary activity. Francis Robert Goulding, who conducted 
“a select school for young ladies”, compiled a Soldiers’ 
Hymn Book and wrote a series of articles called Self Helps 
and Practical Hints for the Camp, the Forest, and the Sea . 
It is likely that during his Macon sojourn he revised his 
Young Marooners, the most popular of his adventure books 
originally written for his own children. 

It was during this period that Macon’s most illustrious 
writer, Sidney Lanier (1842-81), began his career. Born in 
Macon of a Presbyterian family, he was reared strictly but 
kindly in accordance with Calvinistic doctrine. Fortunately 
southern Calvinism, for all its austerity, permitted him to 
cultivate his outstanding talent for music. At seven he was 
imitating the mockingbird on a home-made reed flute, and 
while still very young he wrote verses that are themselves 
musical compositions. 

At the head of his class, Lanier was graduated from 
Oglethorpe College near Milledgeville in i860. While in 
college he read the English classics and was inspired by Dr. 
James Woodrow to consider the relationship of science to 
modern thought and poetry. Afterward he served as tutor 
at his alma mater and formulated plans for study in Ger¬ 
many to become a university professor. This ambition, how¬ 
ever, was shattered by the guns of Fort Sumter, and in the 
wild public enthusiasm he pictured the Confederacy as an 
important nation and Macon as its art center. In 1861 he 
joined the Macon Volunteers, one of the first companies to 
go from Georgia to Virginia. There he served at Chicka- 
hominy and Malvern Hill, did scout service along the James 
River, and became a signal officer on blockade runners. In 
1864 he was captured and taken to Point Lookout, Md., 
where he cheered his fellow prisoners with the flute that he 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


39 


always kept with him. An immature novel, Tiger-Lilies, is 
his only work about his war experience. 

After the war he returned home; ill from lung trouble, he 
endeavored to support himself by clerking in his uncle’s 
hotel in Montgomery, Ala., teaching school in Prattville, 
Ala., and practicing law in his father’s Macon office. In 
1873 he moved to Baltimore, where he was able to satisfy 
his passion for music by playing first flute in the Peabody 
Orchestra. By these performances he won the applause not 
only of the general public but of Theodore Thomas and 
Leopold Damrosch. Soon he became interested in musical 
history and advocated the establishment of chairs of music 
in the universities. 

Strong family affection brought him back to Macon for a 
visit, during which he announced that Corn, the first of his 
major poems, had been accepted for publication. Back in 
Baltimore he entered upon research in English literature 
and prepared a series published posthumously in 1902 as 
Shakespeare and His Forerunners. After delivering these as 
lectures before women’s clubs and the Peabody Institute, he 
was appointed lecturer on English literature at Johns Hop¬ 
kins University in 1879. His study for the university classes 
resulted in The Science of English Verse, in which he philo¬ 
sophically treated the technical relation between poetry 
and prose, and in The English Novel, also published after 
his death. In 1881 his failing health forced him to withdraw 
to the North Carolina mountains. Although he suffered 
from the ravages of tuberculosis and the accompanying high 
fever, he was able to complete the famous poems on the 
marshes of his native State, a series beginning with the maj¬ 
esty of The Marshes of Glynn and ending with the enrap¬ 
tured beauty of Sunrise. 

Considering Lanier’s extraordinary sense of melody, his 
spontaneous emotional qualities, and his short life, the critic 
begrudges his continual wasted effort to make verse do what 
only music can do and his writing the series of boys’ books 
dealing with the medieval romances as related by Froissart, 
Percy, and Malory. Because his sensitive responsiveness and 


40 


THE MACON GUIDE 


his subtle intelligence often involved him in literary conceits, 
he is best loved for his simpler lyrics, including The Marshes 
of Glynn, A Ballad of Trees and the Master, and The Song 
of the Chattahoochee. 

The fame of Sidney Lanier has overshadowed the mem¬ 
ory of his younger brother Clifford Lanier (1844-1908), 
who, born in Griffin, spent his childhood in Macon. His early 
home environment, however, is scarcely mentioned in his 
writings. When only 18 he joined his brother in the Con¬ 
federate service, after which he lived in Montgomery, Ala., 
and operated a hotel. There he published Apollo and Keats 
on Browning and Other poems, a volume of didactic verse 
rich in imagery; two novels, Thorn Fruit and Love and Loy¬ 
alty at War; and many essays. As Sidney Lanier insistently 
proclaimed the relationship between poetry and music, his 
younger brother used his writing to convey the message of 
religion and philosophy. For him all literature must have 
beauty suffused with a moral lesson. 

Macon is the birthplace of William Saunders Scarborough 
(1852-1926), Negro scholar, educator, and writer. The 
son of a free father and a slave mother, he was banned by 
Georgia’s slave laws from learning to read and had to gain 
his early education surreptitiously from a white friend. 
After attending public school in Macon, he was able to con¬ 
tinue his studies at Oberlin College in Ohio. He returned to 
his native city to teach, but in 1877 he was appointed profes¬ 
sor of classical languages at Wilberforce University, Ohio, 
of which he became president in 1908. In addition to writing 
a textbook, First Lessons in Greek, and translating the Birds 
of Aristophanes into English, he wrote many articles on Ne¬ 
gro folklore and on the problems of his race, especially those 
regarding land tenure and the mission of the educated Ne¬ 
gro. 

Two generations are spanned by the works of Harry 
Stillwell Edwards (1855-1938), who was born in Macon. 
His mother’s Confederate aversion to a blue uniform caused 
him to decline an Annapolis appointment and turned him to 
journalism. On the Telegraph he rose from reporter to edi- 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


41 


tor, became editor of the Evening News and Sunday Times, 
studied law at night, and served as postmaster for 13 years. 
His wife, Mary Roxie Lane Edwards, the author of In 
Daddy Jesse’s Kingdom , persuaded him to describe in fic¬ 
tion the life he knew. Thus, he has set down realistically 
every phase of Georgia life from the last days of slavery 
to the modern industrial era. His short stories have ap¬ 
peared in nationally known magazines, and his mystery 
novel, Sons and Fathers, hurriedly written in about three 
weeks, won the Chicago Record prize of $10,000 in 1896. 
His most popular work is Eneas Africanus, the tragi-comic 
story of a freed slave’s search for his former master. Mr. 
Edwards secured Congressional approval for his idea of 
coining the Stone Mountain Memorial half-dollar, issued in 
1925. His column Coming Down My Creek was an editorial 
feature of the Atlanta Journal. 

The colleges continued to bring many learned men who 
compiled textbooks, edited the Latin classics, and wrote 
learned theological documents. Among those connected with 
Mercer was Dr. Archibald J. Battle, who wrote a philo¬ 
sophical treatise on the human will; the eminent theologian 
Albert Henry Newman, who wrote histories of the Baptist 
Church and translated early Christian writings; and Charles 
Bray Williams, author of the History of the Baptists in 
North Carolina and New Testament History and Litera¬ 
ture. 

Wesleyan brought Dr. J. M. Bonnell, who wrote many 
hymns and an early manual of English rhetoric; W. K. 
Greene, a well-known theologian; and William Fletcher 
Quillian, who published many articles on education. The 
most widely known of the Wesleyan teachers was Eliza 
Frances Andrews, who wrote several historical romances, 
such as her popular Prince Hal, and a textbook, Botany all 
the Year Round. Her diary, later published as The War- 
Time Journal of a Georgia Girl, vividly pictures life during 
the War Between the States, with several references to her 
Macon visits. Joseph Tyrone Derry, professor of languages 
at Wesleyan 1879-96, wrote an improved history of the 


42 


THE MACON GUIDE 


United States, but he is best known in Georgia for his Story 
of the Confederate States, the Georgia volume of the Con¬ 
federate Military History, and Strife of Brothers, a long 
romantic epic of the war. 

The ministers did not lag far behind the teachers in their 
productiveness. The Reverend J. O. A. Clark published the 
powerful Elijah Vindicated, The Camp Meeting at Troas, 
and other religious stories as well as the scholarly Wesley 
Volume. Edwin C. Dargan, pastor of the First Baptist 
Church, produced The Doctrines of Our Faith and numer¬ 
ous books on the history and art of preaching. E. W. War¬ 
ren, pastor of the First Baptist Church, varied the artistic 
medium of the preachers in writing a novel of slavery days. 
M. B. Wharton, who edited the Christian Index for many 
years, wrote of the women of the Old and New Testaments, 
compiled sacred songs to popular airs, and published War 
Songs and Poems of the Confederacy. The clergyman most 
closely identified with Macon life was George Gilman Smith, 
who, after serving as a chaplain in the Confederate army, 
settled in Macon, where he produced biographies of Bishops 
James O. Andrew, George F. Pierce, and Francis Asbury 
and compiled The Story of Georgia and Georgia People. 
His volume called the History of Methodism in Georgia and 
Florida is the chief sourcebook for the Methodist history of 
the State. 

Besides men who compiled learned tomes on law and 
taxes, the legal profession produced Judge Bridges Smith, 
who wrote a kindly, humorous column in the Telegraph 
called Just } Twixt Us, from which he published One Hun¬ 
dred Stories in Black. Emory Speer, judge of the U. S. cir¬ 
cuit court and dean of the law school of Mercer, delivered 
many addresses, published as Lincoln, Lee, Grant, and Other 
Biographical Addresses and also as Lectures on the Consti¬ 
tution. 

Helen Topping Miller was living in Georgia when she 
first won success with her Saturday Evening Post serial Deuce 
High. While in Macon, where her husband was secretary of 
the Chamber of Commerce, she taught classes in journalism 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


43 


at Mercer, lectured on the technique of the short story, 
helped to write the Centennial Pageant of 1923, and was 
made an honorary member of the Macon Writers’ Club. 
Her play Poison Ivy was produced at Wesleyan. 

Of the younger authors, Willie Snow Ethridge, born in 
Savannah but reared in Macon, has best portrayed the con¬ 
temporary scene. As I Live and Breathe gayly pictures a 
year of life in Macon when her husband, Mark Ethridge, 
was associate editor of the Telegraph. Mingled Yarn is the 
story of a young wife torn between her liberal newspaper 
husband and her conservative capitalist father. Mrs. Eth¬ 
ridge, at one time a feature writer and society editor of the 
Telegraph, also has published several articles and short 
stories. Although she now lives in Louisville, Ky., her writ¬ 
ings have a background of Macon and Georgia. 


NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALISTS 


rHE FIRST Macon news¬ 
paper preceded the founding of the city, for in 1823 Mayor 
Matthew Robertson purchased the press on which the Louis¬ 
ville Gazette had been printed since 1796, brought it to Fort 
Hawkins, and established the Georgia Messenger. At that 
time pioneers were selling building lots across the river in 
Macon, which quickly developed into a center of commercial 
importance; so within a year Robertson felt it advisable to 
transfer his paper to the new town. Three weeks after the 
first issue, Simri Rose, who was writing in longhand a small 
news sheet called the Bulldog, became editor and established 
the public-spirited policy that he maintained until his death 
about 50 years later. 

Two mergers increased the size of the paper and gave it 
a wider circulation. In 1847 it was sold to S. T. Chapman 
who owned the Georgia Journal, founded in Milledgeville 
in 1808, and about the same time the Albany Courier was 
also incorporated with it. The resulting combination, pub¬ 
lished as the Journal and Messenger for about 60 years, be¬ 
came a daily at the end of the War Between the States. 

The history of Macon journalism has closely centered 
about the Telegraph since its first issue on November 21, 
1826. The fearless editorial policy of Myrom Bartlett, 
founder and first editor, quickly won such general favor that 
in 1832 the word Georgia was added to the title. This paper, 
having had four mergers during the course of its long ca¬ 
reer, is representative of several other journals. The first 
merger occurred with the short-lived Republic in 1845, an ^ 
subsequently the publication bore the names of both papers 


44 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


45 


for 13 years. The first attempt in the State to have a daily 
press was made by Bartlett in 1831, but it was not until 
February 1, i860, that Joseph Clisby established a perma¬ 
nent daily policy for the paper and called it the Macon Daily 
Telegraph. In 1864 the publication was sold to the poet 
Henry L. Flash, who united it with his Daily Confederate. 
Although the Confederate was less than two years old, it 
had in turn been incorporated with the Georgia Citizen, 
which had had a precarious existence since 1850. 

The growth of the city and the rise of national interests 
spurred the establishment of new presses. The names of 
such journals as the Democrat and the Republican indicate 
the intense political activity of the period when the two 
great political parties were taking issue over the extension 
of slavery. Nine papers in addition to the Telegraph and 
Journal and Messenger were founded before the War Be¬ 
tween the States, but all had short lives. Those existing at 
the time of the conflict died during those troubled days. 

Throughout the war the Macon papers were in great de¬ 
mand for their news of the battle area. At first obtained by 
telegraphic dispatches and then by correspondents at the 
front, war stories were carefully edited to give no informa¬ 
tion of strategic value to northern forces. Still later, ac¬ 
counts of returned soldiers and letters from enlisted men 
added color and human interest. Often, however, when news 
was hard to obtain, old items from the files were published. 
One issue of the Telegraph even bore an account of Mo¬ 
zart’s death, which had occurred in 1791. As paper and ink 
became more scarce and Confederate currency more in¬ 
flated, subscription rates became higher. During the sum¬ 
mer of 1864 the Telegraph charged $48 a year, and on 
April 1, 1865, an announcement proclaimed the rate had 
risen to $120, probably the highest price in the history of 
American journalism. 

Only two new papers were established during the war, but 
each was thoroughly partisan and appealed to a divergent 
group. The Army and Navy Herald, under the supervision 
of the Union army, was issued from 1863 to 1865 to pre- 


46 


THE MACON GUIDE 


sent impartial information to the Union officers and sympa¬ 
thizers. On the other hand the Confederate supplied news 
and propaganda for southerners. During Federal occupation 
of the city the Telegraph, which otherwise has had a continu¬ 
ous existence, was forced to cease publication from April 20 
until May 11, 1865. During that interim the Evening News 
was published by a combination of printers on its press. 

After the war Augustus P. Burr of the Journal and Mes¬ 
senger took the required oath of allegiance to the Union and 
on July 20, 1865, printed an account of how he had to 
strengthen himself for the ordeal with an unusually large 
draught of “Dutch courage.” This banter, considered con¬ 
tempt of the U. S. Government, caused him to be arrested 
and his paper suppressed for a time. In 1869, however, it 
was absorbed in the third merger of the Telegraph. The 
combination was known as the Telegraph and Messenger 
for 15 years, after which the name of the Messenger disap¬ 
peared altogether. 

Of the three or four journals founded since the war only 
the News survived. Founded in 1884 by J. B. Pound, it had 
served wisely the public-spirited citizens of Macon. On July 
10, 1929, the Macon History Edition was issued to preserve 
material compiled for the Macon Centennial celebration of 
1923. Even the successful News was bought in 1930 by the 
Telegraph Publishing Company, but it has retained its iden¬ 
tity. The News, with 9,649 subscribers, is published as an 
evening paper; the Telegraph, with a circulation of 23,717, 
is issued as a morning journal; and the two are combined 
for an enlarged Sunday edition. Both of these papers have 
on their staffs Negro editors, who each weekday prepare 
special editions featuring news and pictures of the more 
prominent Negroes of Macon and the State. The only pa¬ 
per established solely for Negroes was the Sentinel, which 
had a short run in 1899 and 1900. 

The Southern Lady’s Book, established by Philip C. Pen¬ 
dleton in 1840, was perhaps the first of the few periodicals 
ever issued in Macon. During the War Between the States 
the Christian Index, the Baptist publication brought to Geor- 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


47 


gia from Philadelphia in 1833, was edited in the city. The 
Wesleyan Christian Advocate, which has been the official or¬ 
gan of the Georgia Methodists since 1836, is now issued in 
Macon. During its long existence this weekly paper has 
campaigned for prohibition and has constantly advocated 
religious education. For a limited public the colleges have 
monthly literary magazines and daily news sheets, and a 
few business enterprises issue trade journals. 

Harry Stillwell Edwards and Henry L. Flash ( see 
WRITERS) are not the only Macon newspaper writers 
who have gained a wide reputation. Judge James T. Nisbet, 
joint editor of the Journal and Messenger with Simri Rose 
for five years following 1850, delivered many addresses, 
and his locally famed What Constitutes a Gentleman has 
been used in declamation contests. Charles J. Bayne, asso¬ 
ciate editor of the News and popular lecturer and poet, 
produced Perdita, a volume of graceful lyrics, and The Fall 
of Utopia, an oriental romance. Montgomery Folsom, fea¬ 
ture writer of the Telegraph, published in 1897 Scraps of 
Song and Southern Scenes, a volume of poems and short 
stories. He is often called the “wiregrass poet” because his 
verses are sympathetically descriptive of the south Georgia 
land. Mrs. Howard Meriwether Lovett, writer of special 
articles, wrote for children her Grandmother Stories from 
the Land of Used-to J he, tales which recounted little-known 
historic incidents. John Theodore Boisfeuillet, Georgia 
statesman, served on the staff of both the News and the 
Telegraph. His biographical and historical sketches throw 
light on the development of both Macon and the State. 

Louis Pendleton, associate editor of the Telegraph from 
1899 to 1914, was the most prolific of the writers. He pro¬ 
duced a penetrating biography of Alexander H. Stephens 
and several rapidly moving novels. Bewitched, In the Wire 
Grass, and King Tom and the Runaways tell of stirring ad¬ 
ventures in south Georgia; In the Camp of the Creeks treats 
of an Indian uprising in 1836; and In the Okefenokee de¬ 
picts life in the famous Georgia swamp. W. T. Anderson, 


48 


THE MACON GUIDE 


present editor of the Telegraph, is well known throughout 
the State for his powerful, intelligent editorials that are bold 
in their denunciation of intolerance and political graft. Be¬ 
ginning as office boy, he has filled almost every position on 
his paper, which he bought in 1914. 


HISTORY 


The MACON site has 

been of vital importance from aboriginal times. Here, where 
convergent trading paths crossed the Ocmulgee River, suc¬ 
cessive immigrations of eastward moving Indians settled, 
each tribe absorbing or replacing its predecessor. At the site 
of Old Ocmulgee Fields near the city archeologists are now 
unearthing abundant evidence of these tribal civilizations. 

In 1703 Colonel James Moore, ex-Governor of South 
Carolina, came to this region to enlist the aid of the lower 
Creeks against the Spanish and their Indian allies in what 
is now southwest Georgia. Oglethorpe passed through this 
land in 1739 on his way to Coweta Town to confer with the 
Indians. The famous botanist William Bartram, who came 
in 1774, mentions in his Travels that he found “yet conspicu¬ 
ous very wonderful remains of the power and grandeur of 
the ancients in this part of America in the ruins of a capital 
Town and Settlement of vast artificial hills and terraces.” 
In 1789 Alexander McGillivray, the Creek chieftain, and 
Weatherford, the great Indian warrior, met here with the 
confidential agent of President Washington to discuss Mc- 
Gillivray’s rejection of the Augusta, Shoulderbone, and Gal- 
phinton treaties. 

In 1804 Benjamin Hawkins, Indian agent, effected with 
the Creeks a treaty whereby they ceded to the Government 
all their lands between the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers ex¬ 
cept a strip of 100 acres on the east side of the Ocmulgee. 
Thi s was reserved to the Indians because Hopoie Micco, 
spokesman for the Creeks, insisted that “the tract of land 
at Oakmulgee old fields is ours; we have reserved it to meet 


49 


50 


THE MACON GUIDE 



and trade with our white friends.” The Government, how¬ 
ever, was permitted to erect on the site a trading post, and in 
1806 a trading and military post was built and named Fort 
Hawkins. For years this fort was the meeting place for the 
agents and the Creeks, whose last assembly was in 1819, 
when 1,400 of their number gathered to receive their Gov¬ 
ernment annuity. 

During the Creek War of 1812-14 Captain Phil Cook 
was in command of the fort. Here, on October 8, 1813, was 
born his daughter, Martha Pearson Cook, the first white 
child born in the section; she later became Mrs. Isaac Win- 
ship and was a prominent citizen of Macon. Colonel Haw¬ 
kins was at the fort frequently during this war in consultation 
with Brigadier General David Blackshear and Major Gen- 


FORT HAWKINS 





OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


51 


erals John McIntosh and John Floyd, who used the fort as 
their headquarters. Because of the influence of the British 
and the emissaries of Chief Tecumseh, who was inciting the 
Indians in Canada and the United States, the lower Creeks 
had become unruly. Although the fort was not the scene of 
actual fighting, there were several skirmishes in the vicinity 
and one battle just across the river. This uprising was 
quelled in August 1814. 

In October 1814 the Governor of Georgia received or¬ 
ders to muster 2,500 militia to join General Andrew Jackson 
against the British at Mobile. The troops were assembled 
at Fort Hawkins, where they were equipped with provisions 
and arms. In January 1815, when the British invaded Geor¬ 
gia, the fort served as a depository and distributing point 
for rations and supplies. The news of General Jackson’s de¬ 
feat of the British at New Orleans was brought to Fort 
Hawkins on January 26, 1815, and a salute of 19 guns cele¬ 
brated the victory. 



MARSHALL JOHNSTON HOUSE 






52 


THE MACON GUIDE 


General Jackson with his Tennessee Army reached Fort 
Hawkins on February 9, 1818. Here and at Fort Early he 
received the Georgia troops and made his plans for the 
Seminole campaign in Florida. 

Although the Indians retained the title to their lands, 
white men began to settle about Fort Hawkins. The first 
permanent white residents were North Carolinians under 
Roger McCall and Harrison Smith, who came to the sec¬ 
tion in 1818 and 1819. Eleazer McCall soon followed his 
brother here and together they began building boats to navi¬ 
gate the Ocmulgee. Meanwhile, David Flanders and Joseph 
Willett cut away the bluff to establish a ferry, and as settlers 
began clearing the land the clear stream became so discolored 
that it was called Muddy Ocmulgee. 

On January 8, 1821, the Treaty of Indian Springs gave 
the State the lands between the Ocmulgee and the Flint River 
and also the 100 acres reserved for Fort Hawkins. The set¬ 
tlement around the fort was named Newtown, but it con¬ 
tinued to be known as Fort Hawkins even after it ceased to 
be a military post. 

As the fertility of this area became known, people from 
Georgia and the surrounding States moved in and soon set¬ 
tled the choice sites on the eastern bank of the Ocmulgee. 
Dissatisfied latecomers petitioned the legislature so heatedly 
that on December 9, 1822, the lawmakers opened the land 
on the western side. The new county was named for William 
Wyatt Bibb, U. S. Senator from Georgia, while its seat 
was called Macon for the North Carolina statesman Na¬ 
thaniel Macon. 

The site chosen was at the head of navigation on the Oc¬ 
mulgee River. Squatters were forced back to a new settle¬ 
ment which they called Tigertown for their ferocious leader, 
“Tiger” Jenkins. In 1823 the land was surveyed and the 
town laid out from the plan of the statesman and author 
Oliver Hillhouse Prince, Sr., with four acres reserved for 
public buildings and the adjacent area divided into 40 lots. 
The sale of lots, which began on March 7, 1823, proceeded 
rapidly as newcomers and citizens of Fort Hawkins made 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


53 


purchases. Trees were soon felled and the construction of 
houses begun. Within two weeks there was a newspaper, the 
Georgia Messenger, founded by Major Matthew Robertson 
at Fort Hawkins but transferred to Macon within the year. 
On December 8, 1823, the town was incorporated and com¬ 
missioners appointed. 

Residences, commercial buildings, and a school were con¬ 
structed, and in 1827 the Methodists erected the first church. 
Trees were planted along the streets, the Ocmulgee River 
was bridged, and, as the town limits expanded, Fort Haw¬ 
kins was absorbed in Macon. The North Carolina, the first 
steamboat to come up the river, reached Macon in 1829. 
At this time there were more than 2,000 inhabitants, three 
banks, three public schools, four hotels, two newspapers, a 
bookstore, a courthouse, 43 stores, and 13 warehouses. De¬ 
spite a destructive fire in 1831 and a bank failure the fol¬ 
lowing year, the town continued to grow. Macon was char¬ 
tered as a city in 1833. 

The population at this time was more than 2,500, of which 
1,183 were Negroes, descendants of the slaves brought in 
by the early settlers. A few free Negroes established them¬ 
selves in independent business enterprises. Notable among 
these were Edward Woodliff and Solomon Humphries. 
Woodliff, who had come to Macon in 1832, operated a small 
barber shop, invested his earnings in real estate, and spent 
his money generously in the education of his race. Humph¬ 
ries, known as “Free Sol”, had been freed by his master as 
a reward for faithful service. He successfully engaged in 
the mercantile trade, even employing white clerks. One of 
his first acts upon achieving independent wealth was to buy 
the freedom of his mother and father. 

In November 1835 Colonel William Ward, of Macon, 
assembled a body of men to assist Texas in its struggle for 
independence. Legally prohibited from organizing his regi¬ 
ment on United States soil, he led his men over the Texas 
border. With him he took the Lone Star flag, designed by 
Joanna Troutman of Crawford County, Ga., and later 
adopted by Texas. The Georgia battalion was treacherously 


54 


THE MACON GUIDE 


slaughtered by the Mexican general Santa Anna at Goliad 
in 1836. Of the four survivors one was a 16-year-old Macon 
boy. 

Macon’s continued cultural growth resulted in the open¬ 
ing of a theater in 1838. Heretofore theatrical perform¬ 
ances had been held in the courthouse or town hall. 

The Harrison Convention of 1841, assembled in Macon 
to ratify the nomination of William Henry Harrison for 
the Presidency, was the largest gathering that had been 
held in Georgia. Delegates came from three States in heter¬ 
ogeneous conveyances. In keeping with the spirit of the cam¬ 
paign, some arrived on floats representing log cabins with 
cider barrels for chimneys and with strings of red peppers 
on the door latches. 

Military prestige was strengthened in 1841 by the organ¬ 
ization of the Floyd Rifles, Macon’s second military com¬ 
pany. When war between the United States and Mexico was 
declared in 1846, a volunteer company, the Macon Guards, 
was mustered for action. As part of the Georgia Regiment 
of Volunteers, the company spent several months in Mexi¬ 
co. 

The middle of the nineteenth century was a period of 
both material and cultural progress. In 1843 the Central 
Railroad, connecting Savannah with Macon, was completed 
and joined with the tracks of the Monroe Railroad, which 
had been laid from Macon to Forsyth five years earlier. 
This gave the State the longest railroad in the world (191 
miles) under one management. Many new store buildings 
were erected and handsome brick residences replaced earlier 
frame structures. The most distinguished actors of the day 
performed here, and Joseph Jefferson’s oldest son was born 
in Macon while his father was appearing at the local theater. 
Other distinguished visitors to the city included Henry Clay, 
ex-President James Polk, ex-President Millard Fillmore, 
Stephen A. Douglas, Alexander Stephens, and William 
Makepeace Thackeray. 

With States’ rights the paramount issue of the times, there 
was great agitation to establish direct trade between Geor- 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


55 


gia and Europe. In connection with the Exposition and Cot¬ 
ton Planters’ Fair of i860 there was a Belgian exhibition at¬ 
tended by representatives from Belgium and the southern 
States. 

During the War Between the States a treasury depository, 
second in importance only to that in Richmond, was placed 
in the city. Commissary and quartermaster departments were 
set up, and in May 1862 the Findlay Foundry was com¬ 
mandeered for use of the arsenal that had been transferred 
from Savannah. Stores of the Ordnance Department were 
deposited in 12 warehouses; more than 350 workmen made 
harness, saddles, shot, shell, and cannon; and the laboratory 
and armory used as many workmen to make smaller weap¬ 
ons. Swords, enamel cloth, buttons, soap, wire, and matches 
also were manufactured in the city. The 12-pounder Na¬ 
poleon guns, of which the army was so proud, were produced 
at the arsenal. 

Macon sent many soldiers to the front, the Macon Volun¬ 
teers and the Floyd Rifles being among the first companies to 
reach the battlefields of Virginia. On March 5, 1861, when 
the design of the Stars and Bars was telegraphed throughout 
the Confederacy, Mrs. Thomas Hardeman, of Macon, sat 
up all night making a flag for the Floyd Rifles, who raised it 
above the armory next morning and fired a salute. This was 
the first Confederate flag made from official design to be 
flown in Georgia, and the salute was the first in the State 
fired in its honor. The Ladies’ Soldiers’ Relief Society cared 
for disabled soldiers and made clothing and bandages to be 
sent to the front. Every available building was converted in¬ 
to a hospital. 

In 1864 General Howell Cobb, Commander in Chief of 
the Georgia Reserves, made his headquarters in Macon. By 
this time the city was crowded with refugees fleeing from 
General Sherman’s forces, and wounded soldiers from every 
theater of operation were being treated in the hospitals. At 
times the total number exceeded the normal population of 
8,000. General Stoneman attacked the city on July 30, 1864. 
General Cobb, who had few regular soldiers available, dis- 


56 


THE MACON GUIDE 


tributed arms to able-bodied male civilians and convales¬ 
cent soldiers and added these forces to the militia sent by 
Governor Joseph E. Brown. General Joseph E. Johnston, 
recently relieved of his command in Atlanta, volunteered his 
services to Cobb, who offered him command of the troops, 
but Johnston consented to serve only in an advisory capacity. 
Although the invaders succeeded in destroying the railroad 
tracks in the vicinity, they were repulsed after a day of fight¬ 
ing. Retreating, they were met near Clinton by Confederate 
troops under General Alfred Iverson, and Stoneman with 
500 men was captured and brought back to Macon. 

Both President Davis and Governor Brown used Macon 
as a forum for their historic quarrel about military proce¬ 
dure. Davis visited the city on September 23, 1864, and de¬ 
livered a speech in which he denounced Brown for lack of 
co-operation and urged that rehabilitated men be returned 
to active duty. When Sherman approached Milledgeville 
the hot-tempered Governor transferred his activities to Ma¬ 
con, and in his address to the legislature in February 1865 
denounced President Davis as an enemy to the Confederacy 
and advocated Georgia’s secession from the Confederate 
States. 

In April 1865 General James H. Wilson advanced against 
the city with 13,500 Union veterans. Notified of the armis¬ 
tice between Sherman and Johnston, General Cobb sent of¬ 
ficers under flags of truce to halt Wilson, but the northern 
army did not stop until it had entered Macon without op¬ 
position and received Cobb’s surrender. On the night of 
April 22 they set fire to two blocks on Mulberry Street. 
Other incendiary attempts were made the following day, 
but no serious damage was done. Cobb’s prudence in offer¬ 
ing no resistance and in destroying all liquor before the 
surrender probably saved Macon from destruction. 

Wilson, like Sherman, was rationing his army from the 
countryside through which he moved. When Cobb surren¬ 
dered, he pointed out to his captor that the name of Wilson 
meant nothing to Georgians, whereas every citizen would 
obey General Cobb. He then suggested that he be permitted 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


57 


to requisition the necessary supplies from provisions cached 
by the Confederate forces, in return for which the Federal 
soldiers should be restrained from pillaging. With Wilson’s 
consent Cobb maintained his headquarters and staff for two 
weeks and issued all orders for commissary supplies for both 
the Federal army and the civilian population. Order was 
maintained even when Jefferson Davis was brought as a 
prisoner of war through the city in May. 

At the close of the war Macon took stock of scanty re¬ 
sources and turned to rebuilding. Confederate currency was 
valueless, homes were devastated, the food supply was ex¬ 
hausted, and the entire economic system had collapsed. Ne¬ 
groes, bewildered by a freedom so foreign to their former 
manner of living, congregated in town. City administration 
fell into the hands of northern adventurers called carpet¬ 
baggers and turncoat southerners termed scalawags. 

Negroes became active in politics and business during the 
military regime of this Reconstruction period. Several were 
elected to important office, and two, Edward Woodliff and 
Henderson Dumas, served creditably on the city board of 
aldermen. M. D. Sneed served as magistrate in 1867-68, 
while Jefferson Long, a tailor, was elected Georgia repre¬ 
sentative and sent to Washington in 1871 as a member of the 
Forty-first Congress. During this period two Negroes were 
appointed postmasters of Macon, while others established 
small mercantile houses and began to acquire property. 

The restoration of commerce was necessary, and the Cen¬ 
tral Railroad, rebuilt at a cost of $1,000,000, resumed oper¬ 
ation the next fall. On March 21, 1866, the city charter was 
amended, increasing the city’s powers of taxation, authoriz¬ 
ing it to extend the city limits, to create a board of health, 
to build and control one or more markets, and to require 
property owners to pave sidewalks. 

Educational facilities were expanded in the 1870’s when 
Mercer University was moved from Penfield to Macon, 
Mount de Sales Academy and Pio Nono College were es¬ 
tablished, and the Macon Public Library and Historical 
Society were formed. 


58 


THE MACON GUIDE 


By 1875 Reconstruction was over and the carpetbagger 
and scalawag were driven out. Interracial relations had be¬ 
come more stable and the Negroes were making their own 
contributions to the life of the community. By 1879 they had 
ten churches, and 1,700 Negro Sunday School pupils and 
teachers participated in devotional exercises held in Central 
City Park. 

News of Grover Cleveland’s election to the Presidency in 
1884 was received enthusiastically, and a jubilant populace 
staged a celebration to acclaim the first Democratic president 
since the war. In 1887 Jefferson Davis visited the city for 
the last time. 

Estimated trade for the year 1879 was $20,000,000. 
There were five banks and two banking and brokerage 
houses, and 16 mainline railroads and their branches were 
centered at Macon. The Bibb Manufacturing Company 
purchased the Macon Cotton Factory and operated both 
plants, one making yarn and the other cloth. Other suc¬ 
cessful industries included leather and harness manufactur¬ 
ing, lumbering, flour milling, and the making of brick and 
crockery. Cotton remained the chief stimulus of trade, and 
Macon’s market differed from the usual mart in two par¬ 
ticulars : cotton was not sold in the streets, and the seller 
was paid upon consummation of the sale instead of after 
the factor had disposed of the cotton. 

Natural disaster somewhat hampered progress. The 
worst freeze in the city’s history occurred in 1886, when the 
temperature dropped to between 2° and 3 0 , freezing the 
river and jamming it with ice for a distance of five miles. 
Fire broke out, and raged unchecked because of the failure 
of water pressure. Later in the same year there was a slight 
earthquake that shattered window panes and toppled chim¬ 
neys. In 1888 the Ocmulgee overflowed, inundating low sec¬ 
tions and isolating many people. 

Despite these adversities, the 1880’s were years of civic 
progress. Electric lights were installed in 1883. When the 
volunteer fire department was replaced by a paid company 
in 1887, an electric fire alarm system was installed and many 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


59 


new hydrants were set up. In 1889 sewers were constructed, 
parks established, and streets improved. Installation of a 
police patrol system and alarm boxes was voted in 1890. 

Several abortive attempts were made to revive steamboat 
navigation. The Ida came up the Ocmulgee in 1888 and the 
John C. Stewart in 1890. Railroad bridges were altered to 
permit the passage of boats, but navigation proved imprac¬ 
ticable because of sandbars in the river. 

The census of 1890 revealed a population of 22,746 with¬ 
in a one-mile radius of the city hall. Since the business and 
social activities of people within the radius of an additional 
mile were centered in Macon, the city limits were extended to 
include this area. The following year was marked by a busi¬ 
ness depression, and the failure of the Macon Construction 
Company threw the city into a panic. The depression con¬ 
tinued into the next year when the Central Railroad Banking 
Company and several small businesses failed. 

With Georgia’s peach crop becoming a major agricultural 
and financial asset, Macon, centering the peach area, began 
to prosper through this new source of revenue. In 1894 the 
Chamber of Commerce was organized to supplant the board 
of trade. 

During the Spanish-American War (1898-99), the Third 
Immunes of the United States Army encamped in Central 
City Park, then called Camp Ray for the regimental com¬ 
mander. The Macon Volunteers with other military units 
from the city participated in the war and in the Philippine 
insurrection. 

The celebrated harness racer Dan Patch established two 
new records on the local track in 1903. Automobile races 
were inaugurated in 1906, and in 1909 some of the world’s 
champion shots participated in the Macon Gun Club’s trap 
shoot. During the latter year railroad and street railway 
employees went on strike, but compromises were made and 
the workers returned to their jobs. 

During this first decade of the twentieth century Macon’s 
population was almost doubled, increasing from 23,272 in 
1900 to 40,665 in 1910. The increase was due largely to the 


60 


THE MACON GUIDE 


incorporation into the city of some of the suburban resi¬ 
dential sections. Vineville and Huguenin Heights were an¬ 
nexed in 1903 and Western Heights, South Macon, and East 
Macon in 1910. 

In 1912 the Saturday Morning Music Club adopted the 
English custom of singing Christmas carols. Church choirs 
assembled and sang on the balcony of the city hall and 
later dispersed in groups throughout the city to serenade 
shut-ins, in whose windows lighted candles had been placed. 
This custom has continued annually and Macon is credited 
with introducing it into the United States. 

Macon again became a military center upon the entrance 
of the United States into the World War. A preview had 
been given in 1916 when the Georgia National Guard mobil¬ 
ized at Camp Harris, site of the former Confederate labo¬ 
ratory, preparatory to being sent to the Mexican border, 
and in 1917 military life was quickened by the establish¬ 
ment of Camp Wheeler near the city. Troop trains rolled in 
day and night, bringing militia units from Georgia and other 
southern States to be amalgamated into the 31st (Dixie) 
Division. When the 31st sailed for France, the 99th Divi¬ 
sion occupied Camp Wheeler, and khaki was a familiar 
sight in the city until the cantonment was abandoned in 1919. 

On March 29, 1920, a 58-mile wind swept Macon, de¬ 
stroying houses and uprooting great trees. Few buildings es¬ 
caped damage, which amounted to $500,000. Two disas¬ 
trous fires occurred the following year. In the first, Macon’s 
oldest hotel, the Brown House, was burned with a loss of 
several lives; the second fire destroyed St. Stanislaus Col¬ 
lege. The American Rose Society set up its southeastern of¬ 
ficial testing and exhibition grounds in Baconsfield Park. The 
city, in 1921, took advantage of the recently conferred wo¬ 
man’s suffrage and elected its first woman alderman, Mrs. 
C. C. Harrold. In 1922 Macon sent to the legislature Mrs. 
Viola Ross Napier, one of Georgia’s first two women law¬ 
makers. Four music festivals were held in the city from 
1919 to 1922 by the Chatauqua of the South, these festivals 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


61 


lasting for two weeks with well-known artists and orchestras 
participating. 

The city’s centennial year of 1923 was celebrated May 
9-11 with parades, concerts, a street carnival, and a histor¬ 
ical pageant in which Macon history from Indian days to 
modern times was enacted by more than 5,000 participants. 
In 1929 the area of the city was again increased by the an¬ 
nexation of Payne City and three subdivisions. 

Macon felt the impact of the Nation-wide depression of 
the 1930’s when banks were closed, business curtailed, and 
countless persons thrown out of employment. Nation-wide 
social unrest in 1934 was reflected in strikes among local 
textile workers. City finances, in a precarious state since 
1929, however, reacf^djfavorably to an economy drive in¬ 
augurated in the fall of 1937, and in February 1938 a cash 
surplus was reported in the treasury for the first time in 
many years. By May the city had paid off almost $300,000 
in municipal obligations since the first of the year despite a 
deduction allowed taxpayers of 3 percent from the 1938 
taxes. 


CHRONOLOGY 


1703 James Moore enlists aid of Creeks in this vicinity. 

1739 James Oglethorpe passes through region on way to Coweta 
Town. 

1774 William Bartram discovers ruins of ancient civilization here. 
1789 Creek chiefs confer with Washington’s agents about treaties. 
1804 Creek treaty with Hawkins cedes lands. 

1806 Fort Hawkins constructed as military and trading post. 

1813 October 8. First white child, Martha Pearson Cook, born in sec¬ 
tion. 

1812-14 Creek Indian War. 

1814 October. Militia leaves Fort Hawkins to meet British at Mobile. 

1815 January. Fort Hawkins serves as depository and distributing 
point for supplies against British invasion. 

1817 February 10. Gen. Andrew Jackson leaves from Fort Hawkins 
for Seminole campaign. 

1818-19 First permanent white residents arrive. 

Ferry established across Ocmulgee. 

First boat floated down Ocmulgee to Darien. 

1819 Creeks and agents hold last assembly at Fort Hawkins. 

1821 January 8. Remaining land, including Fort Hawkins, ceded to 
State. 

Settlement around fort named Newtown. 


62 


THE MACON GUIDE 


1822 December 9. Bibb County established. 

December 22. Commissioners appointed to lay out Macon. 

1823 Land surveyed and Macon laid out. 

First newspaper founded. 

Macon incorporated as town. 

1825 First courthouse built. 

1826 Macon Telegraph begins publication. 

1829 First steamboat reaches Macon. 

1830 Estimated population 2,635. 

1833 Macon chartered as city. 

Central R. R., now Central of Georgia, chartered. 

Volunteer fire company formed. 

1835 Regiment of Macon citizens joins Texas Army against Mexico. 

1836 Georgia Female College, later Wesleyan, chartered. 

1838 Construction begun on Monroe R. R. 

1839 December 10. First train of Macon & Monroe R. R., makes trip 
to Forsyth. 

1840 Population 3,927 (U. S. Census). 

1841 Harrison Convention assembles in Macon. 

1843 First train arrives from Savannah over newly completed Cen¬ 
tral R. R. 

1846 Macon Guards sent to Mexican border. 

1850 Population 5,720 (U. S. Census). 

1852 Georgia Academy for the Blind chartered. 

1860 Belgian Exhibition held as adjunct to Exposition and Cotton 
Planters Fair. 

Population 8,247 (U. S. Census). 

1861 Mrs. Thomas Hardeman makes first official Confederate flag in 
State. 

1862 Findlay Foundry commandeered for use as arsenal. 

1864 Gen. Howell Cobb establishes headquarters in city. 

July 30-31. City under siege. 

November. Governor Brown moves State offices to Macon. 

1865 April. Cobb surrenders city to General Wilson. 

1866 March 21. City charter amended: city limits extended, board of 
health created. 

1870 Population 10,810 (U. S. Census). 

1871 Mercer University moved to Macon. 

1872 Board of Education and Orphanage of Bibb County established. 

1874 Pio Nono College founded by Catholic Church. 

1875 Georgia Horticultural Society organized in Macon. 

1876 Mount de Sales Academy chartered. 

1880 Population 12,749 (U. S. Census). 

1882 Colored Academy for the Blind chartered. 

1886 Temperature drops to 2°; river jammed with ice for five miles. 

1887 Paid fire department formed. 

1888 Ocmulgee River floods. 

1889 Central City College for Negroes founded. 

1890 City limits extended. 

Population 22,746 (U. S. Census). 

1894 Chamber of Commerce organized. 

1898-99 Spanish-American War; Third Immunes of U. S. Army en¬ 
camp in Central City Park. 

1900 Population 23,272 (U. S. Census). 

1909 City limits again extended. 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


63 


1910 Population 40,665 (U. S. Census). 

1912 Saturday Morning Music Club inaugurates first organized Christ¬ 
mas carol singing in U. S. 

1914 Cherokee Heights included in city limits. 

1916 Georgia National Guard mobilizes at Camp Harris for service in 
Mexico. 

1917 Camp Wheeler established. 

1920 Beda Etta College for Negroes founded. 

Population 52,995 (U. S. Census). 

1923 Macon’s centennial celebrated. 

1929 Four subdivisions added to city limits. 

1930 Memorial Trade School for Negroes established. 

Population 53,829 (U. S. Census). 

1934 Act of Congress establishes Ocmulgee National Monument. 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 

The Ocmulgee National Monument is on U.S. 80 , 1.9 miles east 
of the city. The Lamar Mounds are reached by following U.S- 
80 to a point 3.8 miles east of Macon, turning right (S) on 
State 87 and again turning right at 5.3 miles. These mounds 
are 6.8 miles from the center of Macon. 

rHE INDIAN mounds at 
Old Ocmulgee Fields, on the Macon Plateau east of the city, 
and at Lamar Fields, two and one-half miles down the Oc¬ 
mulgee River, comprise the Ocmulgee National Monument, 
one of the most important archeological sites in North 
America. On this tract of more than 6oo acres excavation 
and restoration, financed by Federal funds, have been car¬ 
ried on since 1933 under the direction of the Smithsonian 
Institution. So great a wealth of material has been un¬ 
earthed that the task of organizing and classifying the evi¬ 
dence is far from finished. 

Workers under the direction of Dr. A. R. Kelly, repre¬ 
sentative of the Smithsonian Institution, have found burials, 
houses, hundreds of skeletons, and thousands of artifacts, 
such as potsherds, pottery, weapons, tools, pipes, and orna¬ 
ments which date from the historic period far back into the 
indefinite past. Excavation has brought to light the arts and 
customs of the people who built their houses and mounds, 
fashioned their pottery, and hunted, fished, and even farmed 
long before Columbus sailed for this continent. It is known 
that for uncounted hundreds of years Indians lived on the 
Macon Plateau and along the entire Ocmulgee basin, but not 
in an unbroken sequence, for different tribes and nations 
migrated to replace each other, so that the evidences are 
often overlapping and confused. The meaning of much of 
the material is still undecided, but it is certain that many of 
the discoveries have unusual archeological value. 


64 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


65 





























66 


THE MACON GUIDE 



In addition to their historical importance, however, the 
mounds have a great interest for the layman. The National 
Park Service is reconstructing some of the outstanding dis¬ 
coveries as part of a permanent museum. The council cham¬ 
ber, the excavated mounds, the trading post village, the 
burials opened and preserved intact, the pottery, tools, and 
weapons all attract many visitors. The five main mounds on 
the Macon Plateau and the two at Lamar Fields make up 
the leading features of Ocmulgee National Monument. 

The Council Chamber 

The council chamber, unearthed in the Mound D area of 
the plateau, has been reconstructed in its original form from 
evidence found beneath the earth that collapsed upon it hun¬ 
dreds of years ago. From the outside it is a small, 
round, grass-covered hill of earth symmetrically pyra¬ 
mided except for the projection of a shoulder from 
one side. This is the entrance passage, walled with 


COUNCIL CHAMBER, OCMULGEE NATIONAL PARK 



OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


67 



ENTRANCE COUNCIL CHAMBER, OCMULGEE NATIONAL PARK 


posts and woven reed matting — a low, narrow tunnel 
that leads into the large circular room in which it is 
surmised that the Indian leaders held conferences or reli¬ 
gious ceremonies. The room is 42 feet in diameter, enclosed 
by a low red clay wall, and the floor is of yellow clay that ap¬ 
parently was brought up from the river, packed, and allowed 
to dry in the sun before the roof was built. The roof itself, 
supported by four thick posts, is made up of log beams and 
reed thatch with an opening in the center; outside it was 
covered over with a three-foot thickness of red clay shaped 
in a sloping mound from the ground to the top. In the cen¬ 
ter of the floor beneath the roof opening is a clay-lined fire 
pit. Facing the entrance is a wide clay platform in the shape 
of an eagle, the head pointing toward the fire pit; on this 
platform are three places believed to have been occupied by 
the highest dignitaries. Around the wall, extending from both 
sides of the platform to the entrance, are raised seats mold¬ 
ed of yellow clay. In front of each seat is a dish-shaped de- 



68 


THE MACON GUIDE 


pression, which probably was a receptacle for the objects 
used during the ceremonies. Nothing like these seats and 
receptacles has been discovered anywhere else in the United 
States. 

Discovery of the council chamber has brought forth many 
theories from archeologists, who have sought to connect it 
with other somewhat similar constructions by American In¬ 
dians. The structures most similar to this chamber are the 
earth lodges built on the western plains by the Pawnee and 
Arikara, but it also has been compared to an early form 
of the kiva, the underground ceremonial chamber of the 
Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. Still another theory desig¬ 
nates it as simply a type of ceremonial lodge once common 
in the Southeast in remote times. The age of the council 
chamber cannot be determined exactly, but it is fairly well 
established that it was destroyed by deliberate burning, or 
collapsed, long before Columbus sailed to America. 

Another council chamber or ceremonial earth lodge type 
of building, resembling the one on the Macon Plateau, was 
found at Brown’s Mount, south of the Lamar site. Some¬ 
what smaller, about 30 feet in diameter, it had the central 
fire bowl and the same clay-molded seats around the wall. 
The platform for the leaders’ seats, if there ever was one, 
had been destroyed, for the mound was much damaged by 
erosion and plowing for cultivation by modern farmers. A 
large collection of pottery and other artifacts was found in 
the area. 

Exploration of Mound D itself revealed much to inter¬ 
est archeologists. This oval-shaped mound was rather small 
compared to others, about 8 feet high and 125 by 150 feet 
at the base. Archeologists state that it was originally square, 
with a flat top on which public buildings stood; and there 
was evidence that at least three large houses had been built 
there on this summit. The floors and post molds of these 
houses were unearthed to show their outlines. The mound, 
made of sand and plated with a preservative layer of red 
clay, was built by prehistoric Indians but was used as a 
burial place by later Indians, as is shown by a number of in- 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


69 


terments found in its sides. Proof that these prehistoric In¬ 
dians did at least a little farming is the cornfield uncovered 
beneath Mound D. The mound was built over the field, 
which was thus preserved intact for many hundreds of years, 
so that its rows, which were really hoed but looked as if 
they were plowed, can still be clearly seen. 

An archeological enigma was discovered in the Mound 
D area : ditches that may have been pit houses, fortifications, 
or clay quarries. These depressions, described as “dugouts”, 
run continuously for more than a mile along the plateau rim 
in two parallel lines following the contours of the land. They 
are of greater interest to the archeologist than to the lay¬ 
man, for little remains of them but traces of their floors and 
roof supports. The theory that they were quarries from 
which the Indians took their clay for building and pottery 
is probably discounted by Dr. Kelly’s observation that it is 
impossible to account for the use of so much clay as was 
taken out to form the pits. It has not been decided whether 
they are primitive fortifications or underground dwellings. 

Trading Post Stockade and Village 

Traces of a more recent Indian village were found on top 
of the plateau, where a trading post stockade had been set 
up, probably by English traders from Charleston between 
1690 and 1715, for there were many such posts in the in¬ 
terior at that time. This one apparently was razed during 
the Yamassee wars of 1715, when the traders were driven 
out and their posts destroyed. In the area around the stock¬ 
ade were found many Indian burials. Artifacts buried with 
the bodies, such as flintlock rifles, iron knives, 
swords, and axes, are evidence of a military occupation, 
while others, such as glass beads, fragments of clay trade 
pipes, and copper bells that might have been harness bells, 
indicate that these Indians had engaged in trade with the 
white men. A piece of silver bearing the coat of arms of 
King Philip IV of Spain was found inside the stockade, and 
a sword resembling seventeenth century Spanish swords was 


70 


THE MACON GUIDE 


taken from an Indian burial. The pottery, implements, 
burials, and houses belong to the period of the historic tribes 
of the region and identify them with their fellow Creeks 
who are known to have lived on the Chattahoochee about 
1665. These discoveries are expected to clarify a little- 
known part of Georgia’s history, including the migrations 
of Indian tribes between the Chattahoochee and the Ocmul- 
gee during the period between 1540 and 1715. 

In the trading post area some of the burials have been 
left as they were unearthed, covered by a shelter with glass 
panes through which can be seen the skeletons and the ob¬ 
jects buried with them. Just east of the trading post site 
were found traces of a series of large square houses about 
40 feet wide, with rounded corners. It is believed that these 
houses, at least six of which have been found, were construct¬ 
ed by tribes living on the site before the time of the trading 
post Indians. 


Mound C. 

Mound C, perhaps the richest source of material for 
archeologists, is west of the council chamber at the edge of 
the Central of Georgia railroad cut, which sliced away about 
half the mound and left it in cross-section. It has been es¬ 
tablished that this was not merely one mound, but a com¬ 
position of five built one upon another, constructed in sepa¬ 
rate stages during different occupations. Construction of this 
type is rare in American Indian architecture, as is also the 
clay-molded stairway of 14 steps which was found leading 
from the ground level to the top of the original, bottom 
mound. The steps, about six feet wide, were well worn by 
the tread of many generations. Another important finding 
was the six tombs found in the red clay soil of the plateau 
level beneath the first mound. These interments, made be¬ 
fore the original mounds were constructed, are the oldest 
burials in the region. Some of the tombs were lined with bark 
or small saplings, while others were walled with upright 
logs now decayed but still distinguishable by their molds in 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


71 


the light-colored sand. These primitive people followed the 
custom of “secondary burial”, in which the bodies were al¬ 
lowed to decompose, the skin and flesh stripped off, and the 
bones wrapped in skin or bark bundles and interred. Some¬ 
times several bodies were buried in the same hide bundle. 
Many shell and bone beads, bone needles, awls, shell pend¬ 
ants, and earplugs were found in the tombs, but not many 
pottery or flint artifacts. 

Each level of Mound C had been covered with a special 
clay layer, and on each of the five summits there were traces 
of construction. In the sides of the other layers were found 
more burials, many of which were of secondary type (bun¬ 
dle reburials), containing beads and pottery. Found in the 
slopes of the outer, most recent mound layer were burials 
in which there were glass beads, knives, and brass trinkets 
which showed that the Indians of this level had traded with 
Europeans. Thus in Mound C there was found a continuous 
thread of Indian culture reaching from the historic period 
back into a past that cannot yet be defined. The mound it¬ 
self, in all five stages, is prehistoric; even the most recent 
layer was built long before the first white man came to the 
region. On the fields around the mound archeologists ex¬ 
plored the old village sites and learned that the villagers 
had settled here at some indefinite time after the mound was 
completed and its builders were gone. These later villagers, 
who used the mound for their burials, were either remnants 
of the Hitchiti or perhaps of the Creeks who came to the 
region later, and they were still here during early Colonial 
times. 

Mound C was not completely excavated, but debris was 
cleared away from the side to reveal its profile, so that the 
layered construction and the stairway can be seen. In this 
state it is to be preserved as part of Ocmulgee National 
Monument. 


Mounds A and B. 

Mound A, an imposing pyramid on the south end of the 
plateau, rises 40 feet above the plateau level and 100 feet 


72 


THE MACON GUIDE 


above the river plain. It is almost square with a flat top; 
and although it has been damaged by erosion, it is still, ac¬ 
cording to Dr. Kelly, “one of the largest mound pyramids 
in the United States ... an awe-inspiring monument to the 
industry and engineering of the prehistoric mound builders.” 

Mound A has not been extensively excavated, but the lit¬ 
tle exploration that has been done reveals that, like Mound 
C, it was built in successive stages and that large buildings 
had been constructed on the top of each mound. Profiles cut 
into the side of the mound uncovered traces of house sites 
and refuse pits that indicated occupation by Indians who 
lived here before the mound was built. 

Sloping down from the southeast side of Mound A is a 
series of four artificial terraces. Their purpose is not known, 
but they seem to be part of a landscaping scheme leading up 
to and setting off Mound A, and it is possible that they 
served as a fortified ramp to protect the plateau. Since some 
of the dugouts previously mentioned were filled and covered 
during the construction of the mound and terraces, it is as¬ 
sumed that the mound builders represent a later prehistoric 
phase than do the people who built the dugouts. 

Mound B stands about 50 feet north of Mound A. It is 
small, about 9 feet high and 70 feet wide, and most of it was 
destroyed by the railroad cut. A heavy band of red clay 
running across it about three feet from the top shows that 
it, too, was built in separate stages. The fact that its middle 
section has caved in leads archeologists to believe that it 
covered a pit dwelling or underground lodge. 

Lamar Mounds and Village Site 

Two and one-half miles down the river, in the swamps 
on the east bank, archeologists found the site of a large In¬ 
dian village. Two mounds, about 20 feet high and 100 feet 
wide and standing in the middle of the village about 200 
yards apart, are called Mounds A and B of the Lamar 
group. The round Mound B, with a flat top and a spiral path 
running counter-clockwise from the ground level to the sum- 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


73 


mit, is the only mound described in American archeological 
writings with this Tower-of-Babel type of ascending stair. 
From archeological knowledge of similar construction it is 
believed to have been used for ceremonial processions. On 
the summit is evidence that there was some kind of building, 
a reconstruction of which will be attempted. No excavation 
of the mound proper will be made, however, and it will be 
preserved in its present state. 

Mound A, partially excavated, was found to be built in 
at least two stages. It probably was square, and its flat top 
suggests that it, too, was the site of a temple or ceremonial 
building of some kind. Damage by erosion and by farmers 
for cultivation has made study difficult. 

Many house sites were unearthed in the village region. 
One of them, completely excavated, revealed details of its 
construction; it was built of small sapling timbers set up on 
blue river-clay floors. The irregular spacing of the wall 
posts and charred reeds found on the floor indicate that the 
sides probably were thatched. A thin layer of clay was plas¬ 
tered over the thatched roof. Each house, built on an artifi¬ 
cial earth mound, was square, 20 to 35 feet wide, and rather 
flimsily constructed. A wealth of pottery, flint implements, 
and greenstone celts were found on the floors. The finding 
of these, as well as a pot of charred beans and piles of burned 
corncobs, is taken as evidence that the houses were hurriedly 
abandoned during a fire. From the material unearthed and 
studied archeologists have concluded that the Lamar village 
people lived a life similar to that of the Seminole Indians 
of the Florida Everglades. 

This Lamar village is considered typical of many others, 
such as the village sites discovered at Horseshoe Bend on the 
west bank of the Ocmulgee near Lamar and at Mossy Creek 
on the west bank several miles farther downstream. These 
have been related to Lamar by comparison of the houses 
and pottery. Other villages, compared in the same way, show 
variations or mixtures of the Lamar culture, such as the 
Swift Creek site and the village at One Mile Track in Cen- 


74 


THE MACON GUIDE 


tral City Park in Macon, and the Napier and Shell Rock 
Cave sites. 


Artifacts and Culture 

The thousands of artifacts collected on the Macon Pla¬ 
teau and at Lamar, ranging from beautiful complete pots and 
ornaments through thousands of potsherds, flint implements, 
pipes, and effigies down to bits of shell beads, comprise so 
large a collection that the task of analyzing and evaluating it 
is not yet completed. It is chiefly from the study of these 
artifacts, however, that a picture of the religion and customs 
of the Indians is gradually pieced together. A detailed cata¬ 
logue of all material has been made, and as the evidence is 
compared with that taken from other mounds and village 
sites, the culture of the early inhabitants of the Macon Pla¬ 
teau and Ocmulgee basin will be more clearly understood and 
its importance more accurately determined. 

The art of these Indians does not equal the best in Ameri¬ 
can Indian art. These people did not leave many evidences of 
work in color, except for the natural coloring of the clays 
they used, and their designs lack the maturity of some other 
North American Indian art. Nevertheless, much of their 
work has an appealing freshness and strength. The pottery 
of the prehistoric Indians of the Lamar group is by far the 
best of the lot. These Indians made large pots for cooking 
and general utility, most of which are decorated with designs 
applied by what is called “paddle-marking” technique. Some¬ 
times a design was carved on a flat paddle and then im¬ 
pressed into the clay surface of the pottery; another, more 
simple type of paddle-marking was done with a paddle bound 
with cord, which made a ribbed pattern. Some of the Lamar 
pottery also had incised designs of an elaborate style. 

Besides the pottery, there is a collection of beautiful, pol¬ 
ished greenstone celts, cutting and drilling tools, pipes, ef¬ 
figies, and ornaments, examples of the art and skill of all the 
different cultures from the latest to the most remote times. 
In the collection of artifacts of the Indians of the historic 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


75 


period traces of their relations with white men are seen in 
the European swords, knives, and trinkets. 

History 

After four years of exploration and intensive study of the 
vast collections, still in process, Dr. Kelly has indicated five 
main periods or stages of cultural development on the sites 
at Macon or along the immediate course of the Ocmulgee 
River. So far only a tentative chronology has been assigned 
to the series by Dr. Kelly in his preliminary report in the 
Anthropological Papers of the Bureau of American Ethnol¬ 
ogy, Smithsonian Institution. That the mounds were im¬ 
portant archeologically is not of recent knowledge, although 
the revelation of their meaning has just begun. William 
Bartram, the naturalist, noted the villages and mounds on 
his journey through the Southeast in 1774 and described 
them in his Travels. When the English traders established 
their post on the Macon Plateau between the years 1690 and 
1715, they found it inhabited by the Creeks. It is believed 
that these Creeks had lived on the plateau at some previous 
time and had later returned from the Chattahoochee River, 
where they are known to have been settled in 1665. To which 
tribes of the Creek Nation these Indians belonged is not yet 
known, but they may be identified later by a comparison of 
the findings from these sites with those from the Creek 
towns on the Chattahoochee. 

The most recent cultural period, just outlined, refers to 
the historic Creek Indian occupation, with the Macon Trad¬ 
ing Post and historic village around Mound Q as examples 
of this occupation. 

Then there were the Lamar village swamp-dwellers with 
their truncated mounds; house platforms; square grounds 
for chunkey, a game played with a stone disc and a crook- 
ended pole; and other peculiarities of material culture al¬ 
ready described, including their characteristic “paddle- 
marked” and deeply incised pottery. Historical evidence and 
the myths of the Creek Indians who lived in Old Ocmulgee 


76 


THE MACON GUIDE 


Fields indicate that these people may have been occupying 
the Ocmulgee “flats” at or near the time of De Soto’s jour¬ 
ney through the country in 1540. Mounds and village site 
remains similar to the Lamar group are known now to ar¬ 
cheologists over a wide area in the Southeast, comprising 
Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama. 

The Macon Plateau mounds and deep cultural deposits 
represent an older prehistoric phase than that represented 
by the Lamar mounds and associated village. The people 
who lived on the Macon Plateau were culturally distinct 
from the people who were responsible for the mounds and 
“paddle-marked” pottery at Lamar. The large pyramidal 
mounds, like Mound A, and the unusual ceremonial earth 
lodge constructions like the Macon Council Chamber, along 
with the observed marked changes in pottery and houses, in¬ 
dicate a different cultural setting. 

It is now known that stratigraphic indications and compar¬ 
ative pottery studies show that probably the oldest pottery¬ 
making people in central Georgia, including the Ocmulgee 
sites at Macon, made a highly specialized type of stamped 
pottery like that found on the Swift Creek property of the 
Bibb County farm (about two miles southeast of the Ma¬ 
con mounds and a mile from the Lamar site). The art of 
pottery stamping was carried to the point of artistic genius 
by the people who made the Swift Creek mounds. The con¬ 
struction of these Swift Creek mounds was very different 
from that observed in the large Macon Plateau mounds and 
the later Lamar mounds. It is interesting to note at least 
three phases of prehistoric and proto-historic mound-build¬ 
ing periods in the prehistory of the Ocmulgee region. 

Most ancient of all the cultural evidences at Macon are 
the flint tools dug from the weathered loam of the Macon 
Plateau. These show primitive types of chipping and shap¬ 
ing not duplicated in the tools found in the prehistoric vil¬ 
lages of the Macon Plateau and Lamar. The flint tools come 
from the deepest levels, sometimes 30 to 40 inches below the 
base of prehistoric mounds, and show marked chemical de¬ 
composition, due possibly to the action of humic acids in the 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


77 


soil. Many of these show specializations in form and chip¬ 
ping implying the presence of a simple hunting culture in 
which most of the tools were adapted for skin-dressing and 
wood-working. A generalized resemblance to many of the 
specialized tools of the so-called “Folsom” horizon in the 
western United States has been observed. 


TOURS 


TOUR i — 3.1 Miles 

1. TERMINAL STATION, Fifth Street at the head of 
Cherry Street, is a massive, columned, Indiana limestone 
building erected in 1916. This station, the only one in the 
city, serves five railroads. Because of its size and its sit¬ 
uation at the head of Macon’s principal business street, 
it is a good landmark for strangers. 

NW. from Terminal Station on Cherry Street. 

2. The MACON TELEGRAPH and EVENING NEWS 
BUILDING, 450 Cherry Street, is a two-story, white 
stuccoed edifice with a narrow facade ornamented by two 
slender columns. The Telegraph, Macon’s morning pa¬ 
per, was founded by Myrom Bartlett on November 21, 
1826, as a weekly. It was first issued as a daily in 1831 
and remained so for more than a year. The journal had 
changed hands several times by 1855, when it was bought 
by Joseph Clisby. In i860 Clisby established a perma¬ 
nent daily policy for the paper, and under his regime it 
attained State-wide prominence. So effective was its edi¬ 
torial policy during the political corruption of the decade 
following 1880 that it was said, “Every scoundrel in the 
State is abusing it.” In 1930 the Telegraph purchased 
the Evening News, which had been founded in 1884. 
The two are combined for the Sunday edition. 

In 1914 the Telegraph was purchased by W. T. An¬ 
derson, who, beginning as a $4-a-week office boy, has 
held almost every position on the paper. He has become 
nationally known for his fearless campaigns against 
lynching and racial intolerance. One of his special fea- 


78 



















































































































































































































































































































































OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


79 


tures is a separate edition for Negro readers, containing 
news edited by Negro workers in the Pythian Temple 
on New Street. 

3. CITIZENS AND SOUTHERN NATIONAL BANK, 
NE. corner Cherry and Third Streets, of hand-made red 
brick with Georgia marble and terra cotta trim, features 
early Georgian details inspired by England’s Hampton 
Court Palace, designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Mar¬ 
ble carvings at each side of the Cherry Street entrance 
represent clusters of native Georgia fruit. 

The interior is finished with white pine and mahogany 
woodwork and with varicolored marbles from several 
States and from France. On the north wall of the main 
banking room are five murals by Athos Menaboni, a 
young Italian painter. These are graphic depictions of 
the meeting of James Oglethorpe and Chief Tomochi- 
chi; the S. S. Savannah, the first steamship to cross the 
Atlantic; the first building of Wesleyan College; the 
original building of Mercer University with Jesse Mer¬ 
cer, its founder, in the foreground; and old Fort Haw¬ 
kins. 

The present building was erected in 1933. This corner 
has been used as a banking site since 1894. 

4. MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM, SW. corner Cherry 
and First Streets, is an Indiana limestone structure deco¬ 
rated with Doric columns and topped by a copper dome 
156 feet, 6 inches in diameter. The building was designed 
by Egerton Swartwout, of New York, assisted by Den¬ 
nis and Dennis of Macon, and erected in 1924 at a cost 
of $500,000. The seating capacity of the auditorium is 
4,000; the main floor area is 16,750 square feet. 

Broad stairs lead well above the street to brick ter¬ 
races. Doorways with Roman arches open into a circular 
hallway surrounding the main floor, which is without 
incline and adaptable for exhibitions when the seats are 


80 


THE MACON GUIDE 



MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM 


removed. The stage curtains and the draperies of the 
arched windows at the balcony level are of red velvet. 

The mural above the proscenium, io feet high and 60 
feet long, depicts epochs in the history of Georgia. The 
central group represents various economic, educational, 
and cultural achievements, while the two side groups are 
historical. At the left are pictured the Creek Indian 
princess Cutifachiqui, whom De Soto visited at a site 
near Augusta, De Soto with the banner of old Spain, the 
first Christian baptism in the New World, Oglethorpe 
bringing Georgia’s first charter from England, and John 
Wesley preaching to the Indians; at the right are shown 
La Fayette, Andrew Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and Fort 
Hawkins as it was in 1808. The acceptance of the New 
South by the Old is illustrated by a Confederate veteran 
“bidding God-speed to the new generation, including the 
151st Machine Gun Battalion answering the bugle call 
to the World War.” The artists were Don Carlos du 



OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


81 


Bois and Wilbur G. Kurtz, of Atlanta, who selected the 
subjects from Macon’s Centennial Pageant in 1923. 

5. TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE, SE. corner 
Cherry and Spring Streets, is a yellow stucco building 
with large engaged columns across the facade. The ex¬ 
terior of the dome is painted bright yellow, while the in¬ 
terior is overlaid with stained glass representing the 
“All-Seeing Eye of God.” Each of the six windows shows 
an angel holding a globe; the group, symbolic of the six 
days of creation, is after a design by the English artist 
Burne-Jones. Treasured possessions of the temple are the 
silver Torah pointer, presented to the first temple, and 
the minute book recording the history of the church from 
its founding to April 1925. 

Establishment of the temple began with a formal 
meeting of Israelites in Macon on October 30, 1859, 
and the first house of worship was a small room over a 
confectionery shop on Cherry Street. In 1868 a lot on 
the corner of Poplar and Second Streets was purchased 
for the erection of a synagogue. In 1895 the Union Pray¬ 
er Book was adopted, and in 1900 the congregation 
joined the L^nion of American Hebrew Congregations. 
During the same year plans were made for the con¬ 
struction of the present synagogue. 

L. from Cherry Street on Magnolia Street; L. on College 

Street. 

6. WESLEYAN CONSERVATORY, College Street be¬ 
tween Georgia and Washington Avenues, is the school of 
music and fine arts of Wesleyan College. The entire 
school was housed in the conservatory buildings until 
1928, when the academic department was moved to 
Rivoli, outside the city limits. High on a hill, the main 
building is a large, red brick structure with the numerous 
gables and turrets characteristic of the Victorian period. 


82 


THE MACON GUIDE 



WESLEYAN CONSERVATORY 

The original building, in which school opened on Janu¬ 
ary 7, 1839, was remodeled into this rambling structure 
about 1881 through the beneficence of George I. Seney, 
Brooklyn philanthropist, who made a gift of $125,000 
to the institution. In the grand parlors hang handsome 
water color and oil paintings, together with many por¬ 
traits of individuals prominent in the history of the city 
and the college. The chapel, built in i860, is a Greek 
Revival building with a high foundation and Corinthian 
columns on the wide portico. During the War Between 
the States many entertainments were held in it to raise 
money for the equipment of Bibb County soldiers. 

7. WASHINGTON PARK, College Street between Mag- 




OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


83 


nolia Street and Washington Avenue, lies in a ravine 
forming a natural amphitheater, where a canvas back¬ 
drop and concrete benches provide for outdoor theatrical 
performances. Concrete walks lead down the terraced 
hillside, which in spring is gay with jonquils, narcissi, hya¬ 
cinths, and borders of pink thrift and pink and yellow 
tulips, as well as azaleas and rare varieties of iris. In 
the later spring bloom gladioli and red and pink polyan¬ 
thus roses. Among the trees are dogwoods, locusts, va¬ 
rious small evergreens, and many varieties of magnolia, 
including the rare magnolia cordata. Waterfalls flow in¬ 
to wading pools and a large swimming pool. 

The park was named for James H. R. Washington, 
one of Macon’s early mayors. At the foot of the hill is 
the marked Site of Macon’s First Waterworks, 
which was supplied by spring water pumped into a large 
cistern. Near the entrance is a marble bench placed by 
the Macon History Club in honor of the poet Sidney 
Lanier. The park clock was presented by W. T. Ander¬ 
son, editor of the Macon Telegraph , because he remem¬ 
bered “how children get into trouble by not going home 
on time.” 

8. WASHINGTON MEMORIAL LIBRARY, SE. cor¬ 
ner College Street and Washington Avenue, was given 
in 1919 by Mrs. Ellen Washington Bellamy as a me¬ 
morial to her brother, Hugh Vernon Washington. A 
large magnolia tree partly obscures the severely classic, 
glazed terra cotta building, with vaulted ceilings and 
bronze window casements. The architects were Nisbet 
and Dunw r ody, of Macon, and A. Ten Eyck Brown, of 
Atlanta. 

Above the entrance is the Washington family coat of 
arms, and on the north and south interior walls are four 
plaques portraying in cameo-like relief the likenesses of 
Mrs. Bellamy, her brother, and her parents, Colonel and 
Mrs. James Washington. In the Washington Avenue 
wall is a niche containing a white marble bust of Sidney 


84 


THE MACON GUIDE 


Lanier designed by Gutzon Borglum and presented to 
the library by the Sidney Lanier Association. Murals in 
the niche, illustrating Lanier’s poems, were painted by 
Athos Menaboni. Displayed in glass cases near the en¬ 
trance are the first Macon newspapers, a letter from Jef¬ 
ferson Davis, a manuscript and first edition of Lanier’s 
poems, and the wedding invitation of the poet and his 
bride, Mary Day. 

In the Washington home that originally stood on this 
site, William Makepeace Thackeray was entertained 
when he came to Macon to give a reading. 

9. M. G. ROSS HOME (private), 534 College Street, a 
green-shuttered frame house of Georgian Colonial de¬ 
sign, embodies in its fine proportions a chaste Grecian 
simplicity. The front doorway is framed by four fluted 
columns and pilasters with Greek Ionic capitals; above 
the door is a horizontal panel effectively decorated with 
iron grillwork. The house was built about 1913 from a 
design by Neel Reid, Atlanta architect. 

Among the excellent interior details is the stairway, 
with a curved mahogany balustrade made without a new¬ 
el. A small Pembroke table, at which it is believed La 
Fayette once drank tea, is inlaid with satinwood and 
has a delicately curved end drawer. To the right of the 
entrance stands a highboy, with eagle medallions on its 
brass handles; this piece won first honors at the World’s 
Columbian Exposition in Chicago. 

R. from College Street on Oglethorpe Avenue; L. on Lin¬ 
den Avenue; L. on Ash Street. 

10. MERCER UNIVERSITY, Ash Street (R), covers 
two blocks between Linden Avenue and College Street. 
At the head of the 63-acre campus stands the library, a 
handsome limestone edifice of classical architecture; the 
other 15 buildings are spaced around the grassy quad¬ 
rangle. These older buildings are of red brick, some sim- 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


85 


pie in design, others ornate with mansard roofs and 
sharply defined gables. Mercer University, under the 
control of the Southern Baptist Association, has a plant 
valued at $1,085,000, an endowment of more than 
$1,000,000, and an enrollment of approximately 1,000 
students. The university is organized as a college of 
liberal arts and a school of law, and for administrative 
purposes the college is divided into the divisions of 
Christianity, economics and business administration, 
education, graduate studies, prelegal studies, and pre- 
medical studies. The law school has been given a very 
high rating by the American Bar Association and the 
Association of American Law Schools. 

Establishment of Mercer was due largely to the ef¬ 
forts of Adiel Sherwood, D. D., noted minister and edu¬ 
cator, who had conducted a small theological school in 
Eatonton. Josiah Penfield, who died in 1827, bequeathed 
$2,500 for the education of ministerial students, a 
sum that was matched by delegates to the Georgia Bap¬ 
tist Convention. In 1831 the convention appointed a 
committee to select a site. Four hundred and fifty acres 
were chosen in Greene County, where a village, Penfield, 
soon developed. On January 14, 1833, Mercer Institute, 
named in honor of the educator and Baptist minister 
Jesse Mercer, opened as a manual labor institution with 
a farm to be worked by the 39 students. It was chart¬ 
ered as a university in 1837, subsequently was enlarged 
to include an academy, college, and theological seminary, 
and was moved to the present site in 1871. 


L. from Ash Street on College Street. 


11. TATTNALL SQUARE PARK, College St. between 
Ash Street and Oglethorpe Avenue, is one of Macon’s 
largest city parks. Recreational facilities include tennis 
courts, swings, and a baseball diamond. 


86 


THE MACON GUIDE 


R. from College Street on Oglethorpe Avenue; L. on Ross 

Street; R. on Columbus Place . 

12. MOUNT DE SALES ACADEMY, NW., corner Co¬ 
lumbus and Orange Streets, occupies a concrete-trimmed, 
red brick building on a high hill surrounded by magnolia 
trees and shrubbery. This large structure, with three 
stories and a basement, accommodates 35 nuns, 60 
boarders, and 100 day students. 

In 1862 five Sisters of Mercy fled to Columbus, Ga., 
from St. Augustine, Fla., when that city was threatened 
with bombardment by Union troops. They lived in Co¬ 
lumbus until 1871, when they came to Macon and open¬ 
ed a small academy in the convent and a free school in 
the basement of old St. Joseph’s Church. Chartered in 
1876 as the Mount de Sales Academy, the school from 
that time until 1910 occupied an imposing residence, 
formerly the home of Governor George W. Towns. 

L. from Columbus Place on Orange Street. 

13. The JOHN HILL LAMAR HOUSE ( private ), 520 
Orange Street, is occupied by the descendants of John 
Hill Lamar, Sr., who was living here in 1839. The house, 
which once faced High Street, is a white Greek Revival 
residence with a porch on each of the two stories. Colo¬ 
nel John Hill Lamar, Jr., of the 61st Infantry Volun¬ 
teers, was killed during the War Between the States on 
July 9, 1864. His sisters sang in public concerts to raise 
money for the aid of Confederate soldiers. In the Lamar 
house during the spring of 1863 Sidney Lanier first met 
Mary Day, whom he later married. Miss Day, reared in 
the North, had come to Macon during the war to be 
with her father who was a Macon jeweler, and Lanier 
had returned here on a furlough. The two were attend¬ 
ing a meeting of the music club, entertained by their 
mutual friend Gussie Lamar. 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


87 


Retrace Orange Street; L. on High Street. 

14. The SIDNEY LANIER COTTAGE {private), 213 
High Street, is a story-and-a half, white-shuttered, 
gray frame dwelling with a pointed central gable on its 
steeply sloping roof. Mimosa trees stand on each side 
of the front walkway. After considerable research, vari¬ 
ous local organizations have generally conceded that 
this house was the birthplace of Sidney Lanier, Georgia’s 
best known poet, but some authorities believe that he 
was born in a similar residence on Second Street. A small 
marble marker has been set on an ivy-covered terrace of 
the yard by the Wesleyan College Literary Society, and a 
live oak in Lanier Park, opposite the house, has been 
dedicated to him. 

Sidney Lanier (Feb. 3, 1842-Sept. 7, 1881), poet, 
musician, and critic, is perhaps best remembered for his 
shorter poems The Marshes of Glynn, A Ballad of 
Trees and the Master, and The Song of the Chattahoo - 
chee. Lanier spent his childhood in this house and when a 
young boy he was taught music by his mother. At the age 
of five years he was given a one keyed flute, and 
two years later he made one for himself from a reed cut 
from the bank of the Ocmulgee River; it was not long 
before he could play the guitar, violin, and organ. Al¬ 
though his father did not encourage him he wrote verses 
“in the small private one-room establishment’’ in which 
he attended school. Active and healthy despite an inherit¬ 
ed tendency toward tuberculosis, he gathered nuts and 
haws from the banks of the Ocmulgee, invented games, 
and climbed trees. His inveterate reading of Scott, Bul- 
wer, and medieval romances later affected his art, giv¬ 
ing him a tendency to use archaic phrases. At 14 he or¬ 
ganized a military company of 50 boys, armed them with 
bows and arrows, and drilled them according to military 
regulations. The boys, dressed in white trousers, blue 
jackets, and caps, each adorned with a white feather, 
were allowed to drill with the Macon Volunteers, whom 
Lanier later joined as a private {see WRITERS ). 


88 


THE MACON GUIDE 



15. ST: JOSEPH’S SCHOOL, 210 High Street, a two- 
story, red brick building encircled by an iron fence, is 
the parochial school of the Roman Catholic Church. 


R. from High Street on Poplar Street. 


16. ST. JOSEPH’S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 
SW. corner Poplar and New Streets, completed in 1903, 
displays Byzantine influence in its numerous sweeping 
arches and small columns. Wide marble steps lead to 
three arched entrances. On each side of the facade are 
tall, square Gothic towers, supported by buttresses and 
topped by spires. In the cruciform interior are three car- 
rara marble altars; the floor and columns also are of 


ST. JOSEPH’S CATHEDRAL 







OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


89 


marble. The beautiful stained glass memorial windows 
and numerous statues are gifts of members of the church. 

The first Roman Catholics in Macon did not have a 
church building but were visited periodically by priests 
from neighboring parishes. They were served in this 
manner from 1835 until 1841, when the congregation 
was large enough to have a church of its own on Fourth 
and Walnut Streets. That most of the early members 
were of Irish extraction is shown by the prevalence of 
Irish names on the Founders Roll in the vestibule. The 
basement of the present church was completed in 1892, 
and divine services were held there until the main audi¬ 
torium was constructed. 


17. CITY HALL, Poplar Street, Cotton Avenue, and First 
Street, was built in 1836 as the Monroe Railroad Bank 
and remodeled with Government aid 1933-35. The 
present limestone building combines the classic design 



CITY HALL 






90 


THE MACON GUIDE 


of the original plan with modern functional architecture. 
On the two black vitrolite panels at the main entrance 
is given the history of the vicinity from Creek Indian 
times to the present. 

The interior of the old building was torn away and 
rebuilt without altering three of the exterior walls. The 
first floor is built about the council chamber, around 
which, on the second-floor level, are the offices of the 
mayor and other city officials. A banistered stairway, 
brightly colored and modernistically angular, leads to 
the third floor, on which is a large museum exhibiting 
Macon’s prehistoric relics and best art contributions. 
The basement is given over to the offices of the city 
police department. 

This building was the State capitol from November 
18, 1864, when Governor Joseph E. Brown moved his 
offices from Milledgeville to Macon, until the adjourn¬ 
ment of the legislature the following spring. This was 
the last session of the general assembly under the Con¬ 
federate States of America and was held here from 
February 16 until March 11, 1865. The building was 
also used as a hospital for wounded soldiers from 1863 
until the close of the War Between the States. 

18. MONUMENT TO THE WOMEN OF THE CON¬ 
FEDERACY, in the parkway at the intersection of Pop¬ 
lar Street with Cotton Avenue and First Street, is a gran¬ 
ite shaft about 20 feet high. The two broad faces of 
the memorial bear carved figures indicative of the bur¬ 
dens borne by the women of the South during the War 
Between the States. On one side is a woman with a child 
and a spinning wheel, while on the other a woman min¬ 
isters to a wounded soldier. When the R. A. Smith Camp 
of the United Confederate Veterans laid the corner¬ 
stone on November 9, 1905, the veterans believed they 
would be the first to erect a memorial to the women who 
worked for the soldiers of the Confederacy. The monu¬ 
ment was not unveiled, however, until June 3, 1911, 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


91 


and during the interim another such memorial had been 
erected. 


TOUR 2 — 5.1 Miles 

NE. from Terminal Station on Fifth Street. 

19. The SITE OF THE MACON HOTEL, SE. corner 
Mulberry and Fifth Streets, is marked by a large gran¬ 
ite boulder placed by the local D. A. R. The marker 
stands in a small, grassy park planted in red roses and 
surrounded by a privet hedge. On March 30, 1825, in 
the year following the building of this hotel, General 
La Fayette was entertained at the hotel with a gala 
dinner. Soon after this occasion, the hotel was renamed 
the La Fayette. During the War Between the States ten 
patriotic citizens purchased the building and placed it 
at the disposal of the Ladies’ Soldiers’ Relief Society. 
There the Macon women continued to make bandages 
and garments and converted the hotel into the Wayside 
Home for the accommodation of Confederate soldiers 
in transit. 

L. from Fifth Street on Mulberry Street. 

20. UNITED STATES POST OFFICE, NE. corner 
Third and Mulberry Streets, is a stately building of 
Georgia white marble with eight large Ionic columns on 
the facade. Striking contrast in the interior is formed by 
dark green marble doorframes and baseboards against 
lighter marble walls and terraz^o floors. The walls of 
the offices are oak paneled. The building, erected in 1908 
at a cost of $300,000 and enlarged in 1934 by a $350,- 
000 annex, houses all Federal departments and recruit¬ 
ing offices in Macon. The first floor and basement are 
occupied exclusively by the Post Office Department. 

21. The LANIER HOTEL, 525 Mulberry Street, was 
built in 1850, but complete remodeling and several ad- 


92 


THE MACON GUIDE 


22 . 


ditions have transformed it into a modern building. In 
this hostelry the city has entertained many celebrities, 
such as ex-President Millard H. Fillmore, Stephen A. 
Douglas, and Alexander H. Stephens. During the War 
Between the States many important decisions were made 
in the hotel as various military leaders, including Gener¬ 
al Howell Cobb and General James Wilson, established 
temporary headquarters in its rooms. Governor Joseph 
E. Brown made his home at the Lanier 1864-65, when 
the city hall was used as the capitol. A bronze entrance 
plaque bears the information that Jefferson Davis, de¬ 
posed President of the Confederacy, was quartered here 
on May 13, 1865, after his capture at Irwinville. On the 
evening of the same day Davis and his party were sent 
by special train to Atlanta, thence to Fortress Monroe. 
Although a rope had been placed in the second-floor 
bedroom and a carriage waited in the alley below, Davis 
would not agree to plans for his escape. At this time C. 
C. Clay, Confederate commissioner to Canada, charged 
with complicity in the Lincoln assassination, learned that 
he was wanted by the Federal authorities and came to 
the Lanier Hotel to surrender. 

FORMER HEADQUARTERS OF GENERAL 
HOWELL COBB, 554 Mulberry Street, is a three-story 
red brick office building erected in 1857. The first story 
is faced with limestone, and the windows of the second 
and third stories are adorned with marble pediments 
carved in a formal design. The floor-length windows of 
the second story open onto a balcony decorated with iron 
grillwork. A U. D. C. marker indicates that the struc¬ 
ture served as headquarters for the Army of Georgia 
Reserves under Major General Howell Cobb from April 
1864 until the end of the War Between the States. On 
July 22 of that year it was made the headquarters also 
of all the Georgia militia, and after the capture of Ma¬ 
con in April 1865 General Wilson used the same offices. 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


93 


23. EMERSON BUILDING, 556 Mulberry Street, was 
erected in 1859 as a residence and office by Dr. George 
Emerson, a dentist. The three-story brownstone build¬ 
ing, one of Macon’s oldest business houses, shows mid- 
Victorian influence in its high, pointed ceilings, vaulted 
doorways, and elaborately carved double doors at the 
head of the stairs. Italian influence shows in the second- 
floor iron balcony braced by masonry scroll brackets. 
The doors have silver knobs and keyhole escutcheons. 
All but one of the large mirrors in the front room were 
broken by General Wilson’s Federal soldiers when the 
city fell in 1865. 

24. BIBB COUNTY COURTHOUSE, NW. corner Mul¬ 
berry and Second Streets, is a five-story red brick build¬ 
ing with tall columns on the facade. Interior walls are of 
marble and floors of terrazzo. The present edifice, con¬ 
structed at a cost of $663,000, was not completed until 
1924, but the site has been occupied by the Bibb County 
Courthouse since 1870. 

25. The CONFEDERATE SOLDIER, on Courthouse 
Square facing Mulberry and Second Streets, is a marble 
statue of a Confederate private sculptured in Italy. The 
eleven and one-half foot figure, unveiled in 1879, stands 
on a base made in four panels which show a dedication in¬ 
scription, arms of war, the great seal of the Confeder¬ 
acy, and the Georgia coat of arms. The soldier’s hat is 
turned slightly to one side, the front pointing symbolical¬ 
ly toward the south. 

This statue was erected in 1879 by the Ladies’ Me¬ 
morial Association, organized in 1866 to care for the 
soldiers’ graves. On April 26, 1866, this organization 
sponsored Macon’s first Confederate Memorial Day. 
Since the city was then under military rule, several Fed¬ 
eral officers were present. 

26. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SE. corner 
Mulberry and First Streets, a brick building stuccoed 


94 


THE MACON GUIDE 


and scored to simulate blocks, is of the early Christian 
basilican type with decorative details indicating Roman¬ 
esque influence. Particularly notable features are the 
183-foot tower and the entrance with a deep recessed 
arch and carved double doors. 

On June 18, 1826, the Reverend Benjamin Gilder- 
sleeve conducted a meeting of 25 persons in the small 
frame courthouse to organize a Presbyterian church. On 
December 26 of the same year the church was incorpor¬ 
ated by an act of the Georgia legislature. The present 
building was dedicated September 19, 1858. During the 
War Between the States, when other bells were comman¬ 
deered by the arsenal, this church bell was spared because 
it was connected with the town clock. After the war the 
Negro members continued to attend with their former 
masters until May 5, 1885, when they left to form their 
own congregation. In 1925 the educational building was 
added to the main structure. 



MULBERRY STREET METHODIST CHURCH 















OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


95 


27. MULBERRY STREET METHODIST CHURCH, 
NW. corner Mulberry and First Streets, built of Indiana 
limestone, has the tall cathedral windows with pointed 
arches, steep slate roof, and double square towers char¬ 
acteristic of the Colonial Gothic style. The church was 
organized in 1826 and construction of its first building 
was begun a year later. The present handsome structure 
was dedicated in 1928. 

28. The ASA HOLT HOUSE (private), 856 Mulberry 
Street, is a two-story, white Greek Revival residence 
with Doric columns, Palladian doorway, and green 
blinds. The banisters of the front veranda and the small 
balcony are iron grillwork. The house was built by Asa 
Holt in 1853, but the small wing to the rear was added 
later. A mended column and a dent in the floor of the 
hallway are evidence that a cannon ball, fired from Stone- 
man’s battery outside the city limits, struck the house on 



P. L. HAY HOUSE 




96 


THE MACON GUIDE 


July 30, 1864. The shell struck the sand sidewalk and, 
ricocheting upward through the parlor into the hall, 
damaged the second column from the left. 

At Spring Street Mulberry Street becomes Georgia Avenue. 

29. P. L. HAY HOUSE (private), SW. corner Georgia 
Avenue and Spring Street, stands on a slight knoll amid 
shrubbery, trees, and spreading lawns. The red brick 
house, begun in 1855, was modeled on the style of an 
Italian villa, and almost all its materials were imported 
from Italy. Among its many fine details are its broad 
front steps of white marble, marble mantels, frescoed 
ceilings, crystal chandeliers, stained glass windows, and 
spacious rooms paneled in walnut or mahogany. The 
paintings and statuary have been selected carefully to 
harmonize with the architecture. William Blackstone 
Johnston built the house after extensive travel in Europe 
and had the architect, James B. Ayres, incorporate de¬ 
tails that were the result of his study in Italy. During 
the War Between the States he was the receiver of de¬ 
posits for the Confederate treasury. 

30. MARSHALL JOHNSTON HOUSE (private), 
NW. corner Georgia Avenue and Bond Street, stands on 
a high hill overlooking the older part of Macon. Wide 
lawns, profuse shrubbery, and an old iron fence form an 
impressive setting for the red brick house with gray 
wood trim. It is of the most elaborate Victorian Gothic 
style, with numerous gables, turrets, balconies, and bay 
windows. The interior is equally ornate, with its golden 
oak woodwork and filigree carving. The house was 
built in 1883 by Captain Marshall Johnston, a Confed¬ 
erate veteran. 

Here Jefferson Davis, with Mrs. Davis and their two 
daughters, Mrs. Addison Hayes and Winnie Davis, vis¬ 
ited the Johnstons from October 24 until November 2, 
1887, when he attended a Confederate veterans’ reunion 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 97 

and the Georgia State Fair. The second day of the fair 
was dedicated to Mrs. Davis and the third to Mr. Davis, 
who was expected to receive the veterans at the fair 
grounds. Since the appointed day was inclement, Davis 
reviewed the troops of Confederate veterans from the 
veranda of this house. The gray-clad men, deeply moved 
at the sight of their ex-President, broke rank and ran 
across the lawn lustily shouting the rebel yell. The frail, 
exhausted Davis was deeply moved and kissed the flag 
of Cobb’s Legion. 

R. from Georgia Avenue on Bond Street. 

31. COWLES-BOND-O’NEAL HOUSE ( private ), 138 
Bond Street, is of Greek Revival design, based on com¬ 
posite Greek and Roman ideals, a style very popular 
when it was built in 1836. Eighteen Doric columns on 
three sides of the porch support an entablature and a 



COWLES - BOND - O’NEAL HOUSE 










98 


THE MACON GUIDE 


cornice topped by a balustrade. Green shutters contrast 
with the pale brown stucco covering the brick walls, 
which are 12 inches thick. The intricately carved, black 
walnut entrance door is framed by pilasters, a fanlight, 
and deeply recessed sidelights of colored glass. The 
wings, the small semicircular console balcony, and the 
door were added in the 1850’s. The most noteworthy in¬ 
terior features are the coffered dome, mahogany spiral 
staircase, paneled doors, silver-plated doorknobs, and 
marble mantels. It is said that General Wilson selected 
this residence as his living quarters after the capture of 
Macon. Winnie Davis was given a german in this house 
on October 29, 1887. 

The house is surrounded by many old magnolia, cherry 
laurel, cedar, and mimosa trees. The rear garden is en¬ 
closed by a high brick wall that is half hidden by ivy and 
boxwood. From this site is a fine panoramic view of East 
Macon and the business section, with hills rising beyond. 

Retrace Bond Street; R. on Georgia Avenue. 

32. THADDEUS GOODE HOLT HOUSE ( private ), 
319 Georgia Avenue, is a white frame structure of 
Greek Revival architecture, though a slight departure 
from this style is seen in the two formal entrance porch¬ 
es, one at the front and one at the right. Originally the 
porch on the side was a prostyle portico, parapets were 
raised above the front and side facades to simulate pedi¬ 
ments, and across the front were carved wreaths. A cir¬ 
cular stairway with iron banisters leads from the portico. 
On the spacious grounds are handsome magnolias dat¬ 
ing from the building of the house, and old dwarf box¬ 
wood borders the walk. 

The house, built in the 1840’s, was owned by Judge 
Thaddeus Goode Holt, whose granddaughter, Nannie, 
was born and reared here. Miss Holt became the wife 
of James B. Duke, who endowed Duke University, and 
the mother of Doris Duke, one of the world’s wealthi¬ 
est heiresses. 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 99 

33. MILLER HOUSE (private), 323 Georgia Avenue, 
built by Cadwell W. Raines in 1848, is a two-story, white 
frame house constructed in the form of a Greek cross, 
with porches set between the arms of the cross. Above 
the low gable roof rises a central octagonal tower. With¬ 
in the interior the octagonal hall contains a beautiful 
free-hanging stairway, slightly elliptical in design. 

34. SHINHOLSER HOUSE (private), NW. corner 
Georgia Avenue and College Street, modeled from an 
Italian villa, is a white stucco house with straight walls, a 
terrace, marble steps, and a large vine-covered pergola 
extending from the right side of the house. Striking 
decorative details are the low iron grillwork at the sec¬ 
ond story window bases and the stucco pilasters topped 
by urns along the front roof line. In 1911 the brick 
house that had stood on this site since the 1870’s was re¬ 
modeled into the present structure for Mrs. Clara Bates 
Walker and her daughter, Mrs. John W. Shinholser. 
The designer was Neel Reid, noted Atlanta architect, 
who was born and reared in Macon. This house, the 
property of Wesleyan College, is now used for com¬ 
mercial purposes. 

R. from Georgia Avenue on Jefferson Terrace. 

35. The RANDOLPH-WHITTLE HOUSE (private), 
hi Jefferson Terrace, though in need of repairs, is a 
good example of Greek Revival design. The eight Ionic 
columns, the small balcony, and the doorway emphasized 
by pilasters, side lights, and fanlights, are typical of the 
local architecture of the first half of the 19th century. 
The house was built 1837-38 by Dr. Richard H. Ran¬ 
dolph, but at the time of the War Between the States 
Colonel Lewis N. Whittle was living in it. Colonel Whit¬ 
tle, too old for active service, was the outstanding civil¬ 
ian of Macon during the war. He raised money for the 
soldiers, directed the Battlefield Relief Association, and 



100 


THE MACON GUIDE 


was the man for whom the Whittle Guards, organized 
in February 1862, was named. 

36. MOULTRIE-PROUDFIT HOUSE {private), 137 
Jefferson Terrace, is a white Greek Revival residence 
with six Ionic columns and a pediment adorned with 
carved laurel wreaths. The front door, though not the 
original, is beautiful with a fanlight and side lights of 
old glass. On the interior the mahogany stairway, the 
brass doorknobs, and the original wrought-iron lighting 
fixtures are attractive features. The house, designed and 
built by Colonel Elijah Moultrie 1842-43, was occupied 
during the War Between the States by Edward D. 
Huguenin for whom the Huguenin Rifles, Macon Volun¬ 
teers, was named. In 1880 Colonel Alexander Proudfit 
bought the dwelling for his wife, a descendant of Colonel 
Moultrie, so that it would be in possession of the origi¬ 
nal owner’s family. Recently the house has been restored 
by Mrs. Consuelo Proudfit Hersh, the present occupant. 
The beautiful magnolia trees in the yard were planted 
by Colonel Moultrie and the large hackberry trees by 
Colonel Proudfit. 

L. from Jefferson Terrace on Monroe Street; R. on Harde¬ 
man Avenue, which becomes Vineville Avenue at Holt Ave¬ 
nue. 

37. VINEVILLE METHODIST CHURCH, N.E. cor¬ 
ner Vineville and Forest Avenues, an outstanding exam¬ 
ple of pure Greek Revival church architecture, is a large 
rectangular building constructed of Indiana limestone 
blocks. Six Doric columns across the front of the portico 
support an ornamented entablature with a simple Greek 
pediment. Paneled pilasters, with modified Temple of 
the Winds capitals, decorate the interior walls. The six 
side windows, glazed with clear glass, have double-hung 
sashes. The woodwork is of walnut. The church, de¬ 
signed by Elliott Dunwody, Jr., and William F. Oli- 
phant, was erected in 1926. 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


101 


38. SPEER-BIRDSEY HOME (private), 304 Vineville 
Avenue, built prior to 1840 by Thomas Hardeman, was 
originally a long frame structure with a chimney at each 
end. In that year it was bought by Peter Solomon, who 
remodeled it into the Greek Revival house used by How¬ 
ard Major of the American Institute of Architects to 
illustrate a type of development exclusively American. 
The projecting wings on the front identify it with a resi¬ 
dential type classified as the H house, of which Strat¬ 
ford Hall in Virginia is a notable example. A low iron 
fence encloses a lawn planted in giant cedars, laurels, 
crape myrtles, and camellias. 

The house, now the home of J. Sanford Birdsey, was 
formerly owned by Judge Emory Speer, prominent in 
the city’s professional and social life. 

R. from Vineville Avenue on Rogers Avenue . 

39. RALPH SMALL HOUSE (private), 115 Rogers 
Avenue, built by Skelton Napier in 1846, is a white 
frame house with high, green-shuttered windows. It is 
known in architectural circles throughout the country 
as a true type of Greek Revival architecture. Especially 
fine features are the large veranda with six Doric col¬ 
umns, the frieze of inverted laurel wreaths, and the 
parapets raised in the center to simulate pediments. This 
house has been converted by the residents into an antique 
and gift shop. 

R. from Rogers Avenue on Clayton Street which becomes 

Douglas Avenue; L. on Forest Avenue . 

40. BALLARD NORMAL SCHOOL (Negro), near the 
end of Forest Avenue (R), set on a five acre campus, 
comprises a three-story, red brick academic building of 
the Georgian Colonial type, a faculty house, and a teach¬ 
ers’ bungalow. The school was established as the Lewis 
High School by the American Missionary Association 


102 


THE MACON GUIDE 


in 1865, when the teachers were sent from the North 
to instruct the recently liberated Negroes. In 1876 it 
became a teachers’ training school, called the Ballard 
Normal School for Stephen Ballard, who donated funds 
for a new building. During the administration of Pro¬ 
fessor R. G. Van Tobel it became the first Negro school 
in the State to be put on the accredited list. The South¬ 
ern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools ac¬ 
corded it an “A” rating in 1934. Plans are now under 
way to add a junior college. 

The school paper, the Ballardite, recently received 
honorable mention in a survey of United States school 
papers by the Columbia Press Association. 

R. from Forest Avenue on Gustin Avenue which becomes 

Jones Street. 

41. RIVERSIDE, WILLIAM WOLFF, OAK RIDGE, 
and ROSE HILL CEMETERIES (L) extend along 
the street for several blocks. Although each cemetery 
has an entrance gateway, the boundaries are not marked, 
and the four merge into one another. The natural beau¬ 
ty of the rolling land along the bank of the Ocmulgee 
River has been emphasized by the planting of dark mag¬ 
nolia trees, trailing ivy and honeysuckle, bright green 
shrubbery, and varicolored native and cultivated flowers. 
Old-fashioned brick-covered graves sharply contrast 
with ornate marble tombs and monuments, and iron 
fences and gates with simple marble and granite copings. 
Birds sing from large oak trees, and squirrels scamper 
across smooth green lawns. 

In Riverside Cemetery, laid out in 1887, is buried 
“Young” Stribling, Macon’s well-known boxing champ¬ 
ion (see TOUR 3). For several months it was also 
the resting place of Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, 
Jr., now reinterred at Oxford, Miss. Lamar, who lived 
in Macon 1854-55, is known for his political and edu¬ 
cational activities during and after the War Between the 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


103 


States. He drafted the Mississippi Ordinance of Seces¬ 
sion, assisted in raising the 19th Mississippi Regiment, 
and was appointed by the Confederacy as Special Com¬ 
missioner to Russia. After the war he was elected to the 
U. S. Congress as representative from Mississippi and 
was powerfully influential in bringing more cordial re¬ 
lations between the North and South. Especially notable 
was his fearless fight against free silver. 

Oak Ridge Cemetery was laid out in 1840, and Wil¬ 
liam Wolff in 1879. 

Rose Hill Cemetery, the largest of the four, was also 
established in 1840 and was named for Simri Rose, who 
selected this site away from the growing residential sec¬ 
tion. Among the pioneers, statesmen, writers, profession¬ 
al men, and business men buried within its area are Sim¬ 
ri Rose, Elam Alexander, Myrom Bartlett, the parents 
of Sidney Lanier, Congressman James Jackson, Gov¬ 
ernor Nathaniel Edwin Harris, Senator Augustus Oc- 
tavus Bacon, Harry Stillwell Edwards, and Major Phil¬ 
ip Cook, who fought in the War of 1812. On a magno¬ 
lia-planted slope in the eastern part of the cemetery 
are more than 500 white stones marking the graves of 
Confederate soldiers whose bodies were brought to Ma¬ 
con after the war. One portion, set aside from the main 
cemetery, was reserved for slave owners who bought 
burial lots there for their faithful and trusted servants. 
No Negroes now are buried within this section except 
the children of the slaves who were given the plots after 
they were freed. 

One marker in Rose Hill bears the following inscrip¬ 
tion: “Lieutenant Bobby. Just a Brown Dog. Loyal Pal 
and Pet of Captain D. C. Harris. Mascot of Co. C. 
121 Infantry. Faithful to the last.” The dog was com¬ 
missioned lieutenant for faithful attendance in training 
classes at Fort Benning, near Columbus. Bobby, killed in 
old age by a fall, was buried with military honors on 
February 1, 1936. 


104 


THE MACON GUIDE 


Jones Street becomes Ocmulgee Street. 

42. The LITTLE THEATER, NE. corner Ocmulgee and 
First Streets, occupies a frame structure, inconspicuous 
outside but with a vividly decorated interior. This budd¬ 
ing, formerly used by a laundry, was donated by Mr. 
and Mrs. Walter D. Lamar when the club was organized 
in 1934, and the members donned smocks and overalls 
to hasten renovation. Elliott Dunwody, architect, super¬ 
vised remodeling. Edward Shorter planned the interior 
decorations and, with members of the Macon Sketch 
Club, executed several brilliantly painted masques. 
Twelve masques strung on a bright blue rope stand out 
against the Italian pink side walls, while masques per¬ 
sonifying comedy and tragedy are placed over the stage. 

Except for one annual performance for the public, 
admission is restricted to the 500 members. To encour¬ 
age local talent a play writing contest is held each season, 
and the winning play is produced later by the Little 
Theater Group. 

43. SITE OF BIBB ACADEMY, Ocmulgee Street be¬ 
tween First and Academy Streets (R), is marked only 
by a few fragments of a crumbling brick wall. In 1823, 
when the town was first laid out, this entire block was 
reserved for an academy. A frame house was constructed 
and Bibb Academy was opened in 1826 with the Rever¬ 
end Lot Jones as rector. 


TOUR 3—2.4 Miles 

NE. from Terminal Station on Fifth Street; L. on Walnut 
Street. 

44. COWLES-WALKER HOUSE {private), 519 Walnut 
Street, a stucco-covered brick house erected in 1830, is 
cited by architects as an admirable example of the 
“Southern Colonial” (Greek Revival) architecture so 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


105 



COWLES - WALKER HOUSE 


popular at that time. The entrance stoop is adorned by 
small Ionic columns and the front doorway by a fan¬ 
light and side lights. The original hand-carved folding 
doors, mantels, and woodwork are still in the house. 
Summer coolness is assured by walls 18 inches thick. 

45. CHRIST CHURCH (Episcopal), 520 Walnut Street, 
is a gray, stucco-covered brick edifice built in the form of 
an English cross. Strong Gothic influence is apparent 
in the pointed buttresses, the square central tower sur¬ 
mounted by 15-foot pinnacles, the pointed arches of the 
doorways, and the stained glass memorial windows. The 
sanctuary apse presents an exterior appearance similar 
to that of the Gothic apsidose chapels. The gallery, sup¬ 
ported by iron pillars, was formerly set aside for the Ne¬ 
gro slaves who attended services here. 

This church, the oldest in the Diocese of Atlanta, was 
established in 1825 under the auspices of the Protestant 












106 


THE MACON GUIDE 


Episcopal Society. The first services were held Sexagesi- 
ma Sunday 1834 in the old courthouse; the present struc¬ 
ture was not completed until May 1852. In 1879 a S un " 
day School building was erected in memory of John L. 
Jones. The Julian Parkman Jones Benevolent Home at 
512 Walnut Street was endowed by Mrs. John L. Jones 
for care of indigent ladies of the parish. 

The Church Bell, hanging in the tower, was pre¬ 
sented by A. A. Roff in 1868 after an older one had 
been given to the Confederate government to be made 
into ammunition. 

The Communion Cup and Bowl, in a niche right of 
the altar, were given by Dr. Ambrose Baber and used 
in the first communion service of Christ Church. Before 
being brought here they were lost in a shipwreck in the 
Mediterranean Sea and recovered by a diver. 

46. CLINIC HOSPITAL, NE. corner Walnut and Second 
Streets, is still known to architects as the Baber House 
for Dr. Ambrose Baber, who bought the lot in 1831 and 
soon afterward erected the house as his residence. The 
building is a good example of the Regency or late Geor¬ 
gian style, of two stories and a high basement, with a 
small stoop, cast-iron railings, and a fanlighted door¬ 
way. Construction is of brick covered with stucco mark¬ 
ed off to simulate stone blocks. In the woodwork wooden 
pins were used instead of nails. Although the original 
broad landscaped grounds have been sold and the house 
considerably altered, it retains the dignity of its excel¬ 
lent lines. 

Dr. Baber, the most prominent physician of early Ma¬ 
con, served on General Andrew Jackson’s staff and later 
was charge d’ affaires to Sardinia. In 1850 the house 
was sold to Colonel John B. Lamar, who was killed in the 
Battle of Crampton Gap, Md., in 1862. Upon his death 
the property was inherited by Mrs. Howell Cobb, sister 
of Colonel Lamar and wife of the commander in chief 
of the Confederate forces in Georgia. Among the dis- 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


107 


tinguished guests entertained here by Lamar and Gen¬ 
eral Cobb were Jefferson Davis, Generals P. C. T. 
Beauregard, Joseph Johnston, and T. R. R. Cobb, Gov¬ 
ernor John Milton, of Florida, and L. Q. C. Lamar, 
Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. 

47. The GOULDING HOUSE, 856 Walnut Street, is a 
small green cottage almost hidden from view by two 
large magnolia trees. A series of brick steps leads up 
the terrace to the small front porch. In this house the 
Reverend Francis R. Goulding, the inventor of an early 
sewing machine and the author of Young Marooners 
and other books for boys, conducted a select “High 
School for Young Ladies” during the War Between the 
States. 

R. from Walnut Street on Spring Street. 

48. STRIBLING MEMORIAL BRIDGE, a 635-foot 
steel and concrete span over the Ocmulgee River, was 
built at a cost of $200,000. At each end is a bronze me¬ 
morial plaque to W. L. Stribling, Jr., the famous Ma¬ 
con pugilist who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 
1933. A former officer in the Lanier High School 
R. O. T. C. and a pilot in the Reserve Flying Corps, the 
popular young boxer was buried with full military 
honors. When the bridge was dedicated June 10, 1935? 
thousands attended the services, which included a mili¬ 
tary parade and a salute by a flying squadron of army 
planes. 

“Young” Stribling first won fame in his two fights in 
1923 and 1 Q24 with Mike McTigue, light heavyweight 
champion. “Pa” and “Ma” Stribling, acting as manager 
and trainer respectively, took their celebrated son, his 
younger brother, and three sparring partners on a three- 
months’ tour in 192^, covering 18,000 miles in a caravan 
equipped with Pullman car comforts. Stribling, who 
aspired to the heavyweight championship, was defeated 
by Jack Sharkey in 1929. In the fall of the same year he 


108 


THE MACON GUIDE 


fought Primo Camera twice, losing the first fight but 
winning the second. His last encounter was with Max 
Schmeling in 1931, when he won by a technical knock¬ 
out. He was considered a likely candidate for the cham¬ 
pionship at the time of his death three years later. 

At the bridge Spring Street becomes North Avenue. 

49. BACONSFIELD PARK, North Avenue (L) extend¬ 
ing from the river to Nottingham Drive, is a 117-acre 
tract bequeathed to the city by Senator A. O. Bacon as 
a memorial to his two sons. Park facilities include ten¬ 
nis courts, a baseball diamond, a wading pool, barbecue 
pits, open-air grills, and stone tables. The former Bacon 
residence serves as a clubhouse for various women’s or¬ 
ganizations. 

Forty acres of the park are natural forest, to which 
has been added thousands of plantings of magnolias, 
dogwood, camellias, azaleas, rhododendron, and other 
flowering shrubs. The park is most beautiful in early 
summer when hundreds of poppies bloom in vivid colors. 
Two lakes catch the reflection of many trees. 

The Oglethorpe Marker, in the park, indicates 
the site where General Oglethorpe stopped overnight in 
1739 on his way to the Chattahoochee River for a meet¬ 
ing with the Creek Indians. 

L. from North Avenue on Nottingham Drive. 

50. DR. W. G. LEE’S GARDENS ( open occasionally in 
spring, admission 10c), Nottingham Drive (L), cover 
several acres of pine lands planted in azaleas, camellias, 
daffodils, and irises. In early spring the gardens are at 
the height of their beauty. 

51. GEORGIA MASONIC HOME (R), end of Notting¬ 
ham Drive, is an institution for the orphaned children of 
Masons. The large, three-story building, standing on a 




OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


109 



BACONSFIELD PARK PLAYGROUND 









110 


THE MACON GUIDE 


hill overlooking the Ocmulgee River, was built on land 
donated by Senator A. O. Bacon and was dedicated on 
October 28, 1903. Furnishings are made by the children, 
who are given both academic and vocational training. 
Classes are offered in home economics, photography, en¬ 
graving, and various trades. Practical experience is ob¬ 
tained in the canning plant, cheese plant, dairy, farm, 
sawmill, printing press, and laundry which the home 
maintains not only for this purpose but also for its own 
needs. 


OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST 

52. SITE OF FORT HAWKINS, SW. corner Maynard 
and Woolfolk Streets, was formerly occupied by the fort 
and trading post that were so important in Macon’s early 
development (see HISTORY ). Plans have been made to 
reconstruct the fort, and a copy of one of the two block¬ 
houses has been completed. Similarly constructed, about 
28 feet square and 34 feet high with two stories and a 
basement, they were surmounted by watch towers. The 
basement was constructed of stone blocks and the upper 
stories were of hewn logs with portholes for muskets 
and cannon. Four log houses, one centering each side of 
the stockade, served as soldiers’ quarters, storerooms, 
and trading houses when the Indians came to barter. Of¬ 
ficers’ quarters were in the center of the stockade, which 
enclosed 14 acres. It was built of hewn posts 14 inches 
thick, 14 feet long, sunk 4 feet into the ground, and every 
other post had a round hole for muskets. 

Macon’s first celebration of Independence Day was 
held here July 4, 1823. After the reading of the Decla¬ 
ration of Independence by Solicitor General Charles J. 
McDonald, the celebrants went to the hotel of Bullock 
and Wells, where the younger element was represented 
in an address by Richard T. Marks, a 13-year-old ap¬ 
prentice on the Georgia Messenger. The assembly then 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


111 


ferried across the river to Macon where a feast was laid 
in the grove of the public square. The feast included 
“roasting ears, cucumbers, onions, greens, and barbe¬ 
cued shote.” Thirteen toasts were drunk in successive 
response to salutes from the “old four-pounder”, a can¬ 
non that had been left behind when Fort Hawkins was 
abandoned as a military post. 

53. CENTRAL CITY PARK, foot of Walnut Street, is 
Macon’s oldest park. The office of the city parks super¬ 
intendent is here and all the cuttings and annuals for the 
other city parks are grown on the grounds. Near the 
main gate are a pen and pond for ducks, a number of 
pens for young quail, and an enclosed pasture for goats. 

Most of the buildings on the grounds are used as win¬ 
ter quarters and spring training quarters for Downie 
Brothers’ Circus (open during winter daily 10 - 4). 
One building houses the elephants, monkeys, and wild 



HERBERT SMART AIRPORT 







112 


THE MACON GUIDE 


animals, and another the ponies, horses, and dogs. The 
circus usually starts out on the road during the middle 
of April. 

Each year the Georgia State Exposition is open for 
one week in October, and numerous circuses pitch their 
tents inside the mile track. Luther Williams Baseball 
Park, home of the Macon Peaches, is equipped with 
flood lights for night games. 

For many years the park, where horse and automobile 
races were held on the mile track and half-mile track, 
was the center of the city’s recreational activities. 

On October 30, 1887, during the progress of the 
Georgia State Fair, Jefferson Davis and his wife held a 
levee for children from the bandstand within the half- 
mile track. As the former Confederate President stood 
beside the table used for his last cabinet meeting the 
children passed before him. Mr. and Mrs. Davis shook 
hands with some and kissed others. 

54. GEORGIA ACADEMY FOR THE BLIND (R), 
2.6 m. NW. on U. S. 341, occupies a two-story red brick 
building erected in 1906 and modeled after the Philadel¬ 
phia Institution for the Blind. The front facade shows 
a modified Grecian portico, but the numerous porches 
and stairways reflect Spanish architectural influence. A 
fence encloses the 20-acre landscaped tract. 

In addition to music and the usual scholastic courses, 
the students are taught trades so that they may become 
self-supporting. The boys frequently become organ and 
piano tuners; the girls are trained in weaving and knit¬ 
ting. More than half the students are given courses in 
music, which is taught first by rote and then by Braille. 
A good music library has been provided by the Federal 
government and several public recitals are presented an¬ 
nually in the chapel. 

In January 1851, W. S. Fortescue came here from 
Philadelphia to found a school for the blind in Georgia. 
At a meeting on April 15, a few citizens appointed a 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


113 



GEORGIA ACADEMY FOR THE BLIND 

committee to raise funds for the instruction of four stu¬ 
dents. Thus the institution originated in a “private man¬ 
ner”, but on January 19, 1852, the State legislature 
chartered the institution and provided for its mainte¬ 
nance. During the War Between the States, when the 
building was used as a hospital, two of the instructors 
moved the school to Fort Valley, where they maintained 
it for a while from their private funds. Later they were 
reimbursed. 

55. IDLE HOUR NURSERIES, 5.6 m. NW. on 
U. S. 341, has grown from a small local flower nursery, 
begun by Robert Plant on his Idle Hour Farm, to one of 
the largest nurseries in the South. The business is con¬ 
ducted on a retail basis, and blooming pot plants as well 
as cut flowers are sent to points throughout Georgia, 
Alabama, and Florida. Spireas, brilliant bougainvilleas, 
and other plants and flowers border the grounds. 









114 


THE MACON GUIDE 


The owner’s home is modeled on the Italian villa plan 
and its grounds adjoin the nursery. Bird baths and 
houses, pergolas, and stone benches are placed about 
the gardens, festooned with fragrant wisteria blooms in 
spring. A section known as Lovers’ Lane is planted only 
in white flowers. Gardenias bloom in the greenhouses 
from October through June, 40,000 Easter lilies are 
propagated here from September to June, and lilies of 
the valley are available the year around. The nursery 
imported its original stock of orchids from Central 
America and South America before the embargo. 

56. WESLEYAN COLLEGE, at Rivoli, 6 m. NW. on 
U. S. 341, is the oldest college in the world chartered to 
grant degrees exclusively to women (see EDUCA¬ 
TION). The college, recognized by the leading stand¬ 
ardizing associations of America, confers the A.B. de¬ 
gree. In 1928 the academic department was moved here 
from the buildings now used for the Wesleyan Con¬ 
servatory (see TOUR 1). 

The present plant, known as Greater Wesleyan, 
stands on a 170-acre campus of rolling woodland. The 
12 fireproof buildings are of Georgian Colonial design, 
combining modern construction with the architectural de¬ 
tail of the Old South. Georgia marble has been used ex¬ 
tensively for trimming. 

Sixty-nine works of art in the college assembly room 
and parlors include the paintings, etchings, and sculp¬ 
ture of more than 50 contemporary American artists. 
This collection was begun in 1933, when Mrs. Helena 
Eastman Ogden Campbell, Wesleyan graduate and New 
York artist, asked her friends to contribute works for 
a permanent exhibition. Through her care the collection 
has steadily grown, and each piece is the gift of either 
the artist or her friends. Among the artists represented 
are Mrs. Campbell, Gladys Brannigan, Edwin H. Blash- 
field, George P. Ennis, Frederick W. Ruckstuhl, Charles 
C. Curran, Harriett Frishmuth, and Edmund Greacen. 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


115 


In addition to this modern collection are three original 
Italian Renaissance paintings presented by the S. H. 
Kress Foundation and copies of noted Italian paintings, 
the gifts of friends of Wesleyan. 

The Dining Hall, a building with a long colonnade 
of white marble, seats 500 people. Its most striking de¬ 
tails are the white marble mantels at both ends of the 
room and the large windows affording a clear view of 
the campus. 

The Candler Memorial Library, presented by 
Judge John S. Candler, of Atlanta, as a memorial to his 
parents, is architecturally an adaptation of the Hermit¬ 
age, the well-known plantation home that stood near Sa¬ 
vannah until Henry Ford reconstructed it on his estate 
near Ways. The library contains more than 20,000 
books and its reading rooms have a seating capacity of 
250. The Georgia Room, on the ground floor, contains 
a 1,200-volume collection of Georgiana presented in 
1930 by Orville A. Park, Macon attorney and trustee 
of the college. This room contains many first editions, 
rare editions, autographed copies, and the first diploma 
awarded by Wesleyan. Also on display is the desk of 
Sidney Lanier, famous Macon poet. 

Tate Hall, opposite the library, was presented by 
Colonel Sam Tate, of Tate, Ga., owner of Georgia’s 
largest marble plant. This building houses the admin¬ 
istrative offices, the alumnae office, and 16 classrooms. 

Science Hall, left of Tate Hall, contains class¬ 
rooms, lecture rooms, and well-equipped laboratories. 

The Gymnasium has a basketball court, a swimming 
pool, and a gallery seating 700. 

At PORTERFIELD (open), 8 m. SW. on U. S. 341, 
the summer home of James H. Porter, of Macon, is 
one of the ten largest rose gardens in the United States. 


116 


THE MACON GUIDE 


More than 600 varieties of roses are grown in the gar¬ 
dens, which are composed of diamond-shaped beds sepa¬ 
rated by narrow walks with rose-covered arches at each 
end. A number of rosebushes have been trimmed to re¬ 
semble decorative trees. Red radiance roses are planted 
on each side of the entrance to the bower. Around the 
bower and spaced around the garden are beds of tu¬ 
lips bordered with pansies and verbena. Visible from the 
flower garden is a vine-covered windmill and acres of 
cultivated farmland. 

The low rambling house, copied from a Norman 
farmhouse, has a gabled, grayish-red roof and white¬ 
washed brick walls trimmed with roughly hewn cy¬ 
press. The circular entrance tower is topped with an 
iron weather vane. The main part of the house is occu¬ 
pied by a caretaker, while the tower and southern wing 
are reserved for the owner’s use. In the large room of 
this wing a medieval atmosphere is imparted by the 
gloom and the designedly rough details of the flagstone 
floor, rock fireplace, and cypress-trimmed casement win¬ 
dows. Large whale oil lamps hang from the heavy, 
arched beams across the vaulted cealing. The tower 
room has a gray slate floor and a domed ceiling. 

To one side of the house is a swimming pool, while 
in the rear are a barn, a stable, and a workhouse con¬ 
structed of the same material as that of the residence. 
There are also bird roosts and a pigeon house. 

58. LOWTHER HALL (private), at Clinton, 13.7 m. 
NE. on U. S. 122, is a white frame residence of late 
Georgian design with Roman detail. The principal in¬ 
terior feature is the free-hanging elliptical stairway with 
native walnut banisters and handrail set against a curv¬ 
ing rear wall. The front and rear hallways are divided 
by flat arches springing from wooden pilasters. Other 
original features of the interior are the high wooden 
mantels, paneled doors, stile-and-rail wainscot, delicate 
acanthus leaf ornamentation of the cornice, heart pine 


OCMULGEE NATIONAL MONUMENT 


117 



LOWTHER HALL 


floors, and small brass doorknobs with keyhole escutch¬ 
eons. The furnishings are in harmony with the period 
of the house. A broad lawn planted in boxwood, elms, 
and cedars is enclosed by a white picket fence. 

This residence was erected in 1822 for Judge Samuel 
Lowther, formerly of Virginia, by Daniel Pratt, of New 
Hampshire. In November 1864 Federal troops occupied 
Clinton and encamped for a week in the vicinity of the 
house. In the following month Judge Lowther’s widow 
moved to Alabama, and, in disposing of her Georgia 
property, presented the old brass knocker to a child who 
was her husband’s namesake. In December 1932, 68 
years later, descendants of this child offered it to the 
present owners, Dr. and Mrs. Frank F. Jones, who had 
remodeled the house in 1917. The knocker now adorns 
the entrance door. 


59. The DUNLAP HOUSE (R), 1.9 m. SE. on U. S. 80, 
on land of the Ocmulgee National Monument, is a white 












THE MACON GUIDE 


frame cottage with a wide veranda and large green blinds. 
It was occupied by Federal troops on July 30, 1864, when 
General George Stoneman with 2,500 cavalrymen plant¬ 
ed his cannon on a ridge that crosses the Dunlap farm. 
These Union soldiers fired upon Macon, which was pro¬ 
tected by a “home guard” of youths, old men, and con¬ 
valescent soldiers, the State militia under General How¬ 
ell Cobb, and a battalion of Tennessee soldiers. After 
shelling the city from 10:00 a. m. until late in the after¬ 
noon, Stoneman was forced to retreat (see HISTORY ). 
Although he failed in his major purposes of capturing 
the gold of the Confederate depository, releasing the 
captives, and destroying the arsenal and armory, he suc¬ 
ceeded in wrecking the railroads. 

On November 20, 1864, General Judson Kilpatrick 
and his Union cavalry moved upon Macon, protected by 
the State militia and the Confederate cavalry under Gen¬ 
eral Joseph Wheeler. The Union forces crossed Walnut 
Creek, which flows through the Dunlap farm, “made a 
dash for the guns posted in front of Captain Dunlap’s 
gate”, and took part of the city’s fortifications. Retreat¬ 
ing, they picketed Walnut Creek during the night, cut 
the telegraph lines that ran into the city, and destroyed 
the railroads. The Confederates attacked again the next 
morning, and their constant charging and recharging en¬ 
ded in the repulse of the Federal army, which moved on 
toward Milledgeville and Savannah. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Baskerville, William Malone. Southern Writers: Biographical and 
Critical Studies. Nashville and Dallas, Publishing House of the M. E. 
Church, South, 1933. 

Brantley, Rabun Lee. Georgia Journalism of the Civil War Period. 
Nashville, Tenn., George Peabody College for Teachers, 1929. 

Butler, J. C. Historical Records of Macon and Central Georgia. Ma¬ 
con, J. W. Burke & Co., 1879. 

Cobb, John A. Civil War Incidents in Macon. Georgia Historical 
Quarterly v. VII, 1923. 

Coulter, E. Merton. The Ante-Bellum Academy Movement in Geor¬ 
gia. Georgia Historical Quarterly v. V, 1921. 

A Short History of Georgia. Chapel Hill, University of North Caro¬ 
lina Press, 1933. 

Irving, Theodore. The Conquest of Florida by Hernando De Soto. 
New York, George P. Putnam, 1851. 

Jones, Mary Callaway. Some Historic Spots of the Confederacy 
Period in Macon. Macon, Sidney Lanier Chapter U. D. C., 1937. 

Kelly, A. R. Exploring Prehistoric Georgia. Scientific American 152: 
117-20, 184-7, 244-6. March, April, May, 1935. Indian Mounds Near Ma¬ 
con. (Unpublished article.) 

Knight, Lucian Lamar. A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians. 
Chicago and New York, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1917. 

Library of Southern Literature. Atlanta, The Martin and Holt Co., 
1908. 

Link, Samuel Albert. Pioneers of Southern Literature. Nashville, Dal¬ 
las and Richmond, Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South, 1913. 

Macon Daily News, Centennial Edition. Macon, July 10, 1929. 

Macon Daily Telegraph, Centennial Edition, Macon, May 1923. 

Narratives of De Soto, edited by Edward Gaylord Bourne. New York, 
A. S. Barnes & Co., 1904. 

Ragsdale, B. D. The Story of Georgia Baptists, v. I. Atlanta, Foote 
and Davies Co., 1932. 

Shetrone, H. C. The Mound Builders. New York, London, D. Apple- 
ton-Century Co., 1930. 

Slappey, G. H. Early Foundation of Georgia’s System of Common 
School Education. Georgia Historical Quarterly v. V, 1921. 

Starke, Aubrey Harrison, Sidney Lanier, A Biographical and Critical 
Study. Chapel Hill, N. C., The University of North Carolina Press, 1933. 

U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 15th Census 
of the U. S. Le Verne Beales, Chief Statistician. Manufactures, 3 vol. 
Washington, Government Printing Office, 1933. 


CONSULTANTS 

Akers, Dr. S. L., Dean of Wesleyan College. 
Baber-Blackshear, Birdie. 

Baber-Blackshear, Mary. 

Coleman, Mrs. S. T. 


119 


120 


THE MACON GUIDE 


Edwards, Harry Stillwell, author. 

Gadson, Rev. J. H., President Central City College. 

Harris, Prof. H. R., teacher Central City College. 

Harris, Gen. Walter A., attorney. 

Jones, Mrs. Mary Callaway. 

Kelly, Dr. A. R., representative Smithsonian Institution. 

Lamar, Mrs. W. D. 

McKay, James, executive Bibb Manufacturing Co. 

Mounts, L. H., principal Ballard Normal School. 

Oiiphant, William, Supt. Georgia Academy for the Blind. 

Orr, Oliver, writer. 

Patterson, Caroline 

Saxon, J. T., teacher Memorial Trade School. 

Smith, Mrs. Gertrude Freeman. 

Smith, Minnie L., President and founder of Beda Etta College. 

Williams, Prof, and Mrs. John E., principals Colored Academy for the 
Blind. 


INDEX 


Agriculture . 19_22 incl. 

Cotton . 19, 21, 23, 24, 58 

Livestock . 22 

Peaches . 21, 22, 59 

Peanuts . 21 

Pecans . 21 

Sweet Potatoes . 22 

American Missionary Association . 34 

American Rose Society . 60 

Anderson, W. T... 47, 78, 83 

Andrews, Eliza Frances . 41 

Army and Navy Herald, The . 45 

Baber, Ambrose .106 

Baber, Mrs. Mary . 37 

Bacon, A. 0. 108, 110 

Ballard, Stephen ...... 34, 102 

Bartlett, M\rom ... 44, 78, 103 

Bartram, William . 49, 75 

Battle, Archibald J. . 41 

Bayne, Charles J. 47 

Belgian Exhibition . 55 

Bellamy, Ellen Washington . 83 

Bibb Academy, Site .104 

Bibb, William Wyatt . 52 

Blackshear, David . 50 

Board of Education and Orphanage of Bibb County.32, 33 

Boisfeuillet, John T. .. 47 

Bonnell, J. M. 41 

Borglum, Gutzon . 84 

Brown, Governor Joseph E. 56, 90,92 

Brown House . 60 

Brown’s Mount . 68 


Buildings: 

Bibb County Courthouse . 

Citizens and Southern National Bank 

City Hall .. 

Clinic Hospital . 

Emerson Building . 

Lanier Hotel . 

Municipal Auditorium . 

Telegraph and Evening News Building 

Terminal Station . 

U. S. Post Office ... 

Washington Memorial Library . 

Bulldog, The . 

Burr, Augustus P. 

Campbell, Mrs. Helena . 


. 93 

. 79 

89, 90 

.106 

. 93 

91, 92 

. 79 

. 78 

. 78 

. 91 

. 83 

. 44 

. 46 

.114 


(121) 
















































122 


INDEX 


Camp Harris . 

Camp Wheeler . 

Cemeteries: 

Oak Ridge . 

Riverside . 

Rose Hill . 

William Wolff . 

Chatauqua of the South . 

Christian Index . 

Churches: 

Christ Episcopal . 

First Presbyterian .. 

Mulberry Street Methodist ..... 
St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic .. 
Temp’e Beth Israel Synagogue 
Vineville Methodist .. 

Civil War . 

Clark, J. O. A. . 

Clay, C. C. 

Clisby, Joseph . 

Cobb, Howell . 


60 

60 


.103 

.102 

102, 103 
102, 103 

.. 60 

. 46 


.105 

93, 94 

. 95 

88, 89 

. 81 

.100 


See War Between the States 

. 42 

. 92 

. 45, 78 

. 55, 56, 92 


Collections: 

Georgiana . 

Historical . 

Indian . 

Colleges: 

Georgia Female College 

Mercer University . 

Pio Nono College . 

St. Stanislaus College .. 

Wesleyan College . 

Wesleyan Conservatory 

Confederate Memorial Day . 

Cook, Martha Pearson . 

Cowles, Jerry . 

Creeks . 

Daily Confederate, The . 

Dan Patch . 

Dargan, Edwin C. 

Davis, Jefferson .. 

Davis, Winnie . 

Day, Mary ; . 

Democrat, The . 

Derry, Joseph Tyrone . 

Downie Brothers’ Circus . 

du Bois, Don Carlos . 


.114 

82, 83, 84, 90 
. 73, 74 


.See Wesleyan College 

. 16, 32, 57, 84, 85 

.32, 33, 57 

. 33, 60 

16, 17, 31, 32, 36, 81, 82, 114, 115 
. 81, 82 


. 93 

. 50 

. 25 

...See Indians 

. 45 

. 59 

. 42 

56, 57, 58, 92, 96, 97, 112 

. 96 

. 84, 86 

. 45 

. 41 

.Ill 

. 80, 81 












































INDEX 


123 


Dumas, Henderson . 57 

Education . 29-35 incl. 

Academies . 29, 39 

Colleges . 31, 32 

County School System . 32 

Negro Education . 34 , 35 

Progress after War Between the States . 32, 33 , 34 

Edwards, Harry Stillwell . 40, 41, 103 

Edwards, James Carson . 37 

Edwards, Mary Roxie Lane . 41 

Ethridge, Mark . 43 

Ethridge, Willie Snow . 43 

Exposition and Cotton Planters’ Fair . 55 

Findlay, Robert . 25 

Flanders, David . 52 

Flash, Henry Lynden . 38, 45, 47 

Floyd, John . 51 

Floyd Rifles . 54, 55 

Folsom, Montgomery . 47 

Fort Hawkins . 51, 52, 53, 110, 111 

Freedmen’s Bureau . 34 

Gardens: 

Lee, Dr. W. G. 108 

Porterfield . 115 

Georgia Citizen , The . 45 

Georgia Masonic Home .108 

Georgia. Messenger, The . 25, 44, 53 

Georgia State Exposition .112 

Gildersleeve, Benjamin . 94 

Goulding, Francis R. 38, 107 

Greene, W. K. 41 

Hardeman, Mrs. Thomas . 55 

Harrison Convention . 54 

Harrold, Mrs. C. C. 60 

Hawk’ns, Benjamin . 49, 50 

Holt, Nannie . 98 

Hopoie Micco . 49 

Houses: 

Cowles-Bond-O’Neal . 97, 98 

Cowles-Walker .104 

Dunlap . 117, 118 

Goulding .107 

Hay P. L. 96 

Holt, Asa .1... 95 

Holt, Thaddeus Goode . 98 

Johnston, Marshall . 96, 97 

Lamar, John Hill, Jr. 86 

Lanier, Sidney . 87 

Lowther Hall . 116, 117 

Miller . 99 


















































124 


INDEX 


Moultrie-Proudfit 

Porterfield . 

Randolph-Whittle 

Ross, M. G. 

Shinholser . 

Small, Ralph . 

Speer-Birdsey . 

Huguenin Rifles . 

Humphries, Solomon . 
Idle Hour Nurseries .. 

Indians . 

Indian Mounds ... 

Indian Treaties: 

of 1804 . 

of 1821 . 


..100 

.115 

. 99, 100 

. 84 

. 99 

. 101 

. 101 

.100 

. 53 

. 113, 114 

. 19, 49 

See Ocmulgee National Monument 


49 

52 


Industrial Plants: 


Bibb Manufacturing Company . 58 

Findlay Foundry . 26, 55 

Macon Cotton Factory . 58 

Schofield Iron Works . 25 


Industry . 

Clay Products ... 

Cotton . 

Farm Products ... 

Iron Works . 

Mineral Products 

Textiles . 

Timber Products 


23-28 inch, 58, 59 

. 26, 27, 28 

. 26, 27, 58 

. 27 

. 25, 27 

. 28 

. 26, 58, 61 

. 27 


Iverson, General Alfred . 

Jackson, General Andrew . 

Johnston, General Joseph E. . 

Johnston, William Blackstone . 

Jones, Mrs. John L.... 

Jones, Reverend Lot .. 

Journal and Messenger , The . 

Kelly, A. R. 

Kilpatrick, General Judson . 

Kurtz, Wilbur ... 

Ladies’ Memorial Association . 

Ladies’ Soldier’ Relief Association 

LaFayette, Marquis de . 

Lamar Fields. 

Lamar, John Hill, Jr. 

Lamar, L. Q. C., Jr. 

Lanier, Clifford .... 

Lanier, Sidney . 

Lewis, John . 

Lieutenant Bobby .... 

Little Theatre . 


. 56 

. 50, 52 

. 56 

. 96 

.106 

.104 

. 44, 45, 46 

. 64, 69, 72, 75 

.118 

. 81 

. 93 

. 55, 91 

. 91 

See Ocmulgee National Monument 

. 86 

.102 

. 40 

. 38-40 inch, 83, 84, 86, 87 

. 34 

.103 

.104 

















































INDEX 


125 


Lone Star Flag . 53 

Long, Jefferson . 57 

Longstreet, Augustus Baldwin . 36 

Lovett, Mrs. Howard Meriwether. 47 

Luther Williams Baseball Park . 112 

Macon Art Association . 17 

Macon Evening News . 16, 46, 78 

Macon History Club. 83 

Macon Guards . 54 

Macon Gun Club . 59 

Macon, Nathaniel . 52 

Macon Plateau . 64, 66 , 76 

Macon Telegraph . 16, 44-47 inch, 78 

Macon Volunteers . 54, 55, 59, 87 


Markers and Memorials: 

Cobb’s Headquarters Marker. 92 

Confederate Soldier Statue . 93 

Lanier Bench . 83 

Lanier Birthplace Marker . 87 

Lanier Live Oak . 87 

Macon Hotel Site, Marker . 91 

Oglethorpe Marker .108 

Stribling Memorial Bridge .107 

Waterworks, Site of First . 83 

Women of Confederacy Monument. 90 


McCall, Eleazer. 52 

McCall, Roger . 52 

McGillivray, Alexander . 49 

McIntosh, John . 51 

Menaboni, Athos . 79, 84 

Mercer, Jesse . 85 

Middle Georgia Livestock Association . 22 

Miller, Helen Topping . 42, 43 

Moore, James . 49 

Napier, Mrs. Viola Ross . 60 

Negro, The . 17, 34, 35, 40, 46, 53, 57, 58 79 94 101 

Newman, Albert Henry . 41 

Newtown . 52 

Nisbet, Eugenius Aristides . 37 

Nisbet, James T. 47 

Ocmulgee National Monument . 64-77 inch 

Ocmulgee River .. 15, 19, 23, 49, 51, 59, 64 

Oglethorpe, James Edward . 49. 108 

Old Ocmulgee Fields . 19, 49, 64, 75, 76 

Park, Orville A.115 


Parks: 

Baconstield . 

Central City .... 
Tattnall Square 
Washington . 


. 60, 108 

58, 59, 111, 112 

. 85 

. 82, 83 


Pendleton, Lewis . 47 

Pendleton, Philip C. 46 

Penfield, Josiah . 85 





















































126 


INDEX 


Pierce, George Foster . 36 

Plant, I. C. 21 

Pound, J. B. 46 

Prince, Oliver Hillhouse . 36 

Prince, Oliver Hillhouse, Jr. 37 

Public Library and Historical Society . 57 

Quillian, William Fletcher . 41 

Railroads . 24, 25, 57 

Central Railroad . 24, 25, 54, 57 

Monroe Railroad ... 24, 25, 54 

Republic, The . 44 

Republican, The . 45 

Rose Simri . 25, 44, 103 

Rumph, Lewis A. 22 

Rumph, Samuel .:. 22 

Saturday Morning Music Club . 60 

Saxon, J. T. 35 

Scarborough, W. S..-.-. 17, 40 

Schools: 

Alexander Free School . 33 

Central High School . 32 

Georgia Academy for the Blind . 34, 112, 113 

Georgia-Alabama Business College . 33 

Gresham High School . 32 

Macon Vocational School .„. 33 

Mount de Sales Academy. 32, 57, 86 

St. Joseph’s School . 88 

Schools, Negro: 

BaDard Normal School . 18, 34, 101, 102 

Beda Etta College . 18, 35 

Colored Academy for the Blind . 34 

Georgia Baptist College . 18, 34 

Lewis High School . 34 

Memorial Trade School . 35 

Sellers, Cassander . 34 

Sellers, Thomas . 34 

Sentinel, The . 46 

Sherman, Gen. W. T. 56 

Sherwood, Adiel . 36, 85 

Slavery . 21, 34, 103 

Smith, George Gilman . 42 

Smith, Harrison .52 

Smith, Judge Bridges . 42 

Smith, Minnie L. .. 35 

Sneed, M. D. 57 

Southern Lady’s Book . 46 

Spanish-American War . 59 

Speer. Emory... 42, 101 

Steamboats .23, 53, 59 

Ida, The . 59 

John C. Stewart, The. 59 

North Carolina, The . 53 

Stoneman, Gen. George. 55, 56, 118 





















































INDEX 


127 


Stribling, W. L., Jr. (“Young”) . 102, 107, 108 

Telegraph and Messenger , The . 45 

Thackeray, William Makepeace . 54 

Theater, The . 54 

Tigertown . 52 

Van Tobel, R. G. 102 

Wadley, Gen. William . 25 

War Between the States.55, 56, 57, 91, 92 

Ward, Col. William . 53 

Warren, E. W. 42 

Washington, Hugh Vernon . 83 

Washington, James H. R. 83, 84 

Washington Memorial Library . 83, 84 

Wayside Home . 91 

Weatherford . 49 

Wesleyan Christian Advocate . 47 

Wesleyan College Literary Society . 87 

Wharton, M. B. 42 

Wheeler, Gen. Joseph .118 

Whittle, Col. Lewis N. 99, 100 

Whittle Guards . 99, 100 

WBlett, Joseph . 51 

Wdliams. Charles Bray . 41 

Wilson, Gen. James H.56, 92, 98 

Woodliff, Ariadine . 34 

Woodliff. Edward . 34, 53, 57 

World War . 60 


































































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